


come hell or high tide

by annaki



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Developing Friendships, Found Family, Gen, It's the agents so there's gonna be a fair amount of injuries, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Team as Family, no beta we get sanitized like test subjects, splatoon 1 hero mode retelling with my version of the agents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:54:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 37,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24994195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annaki/pseuds/annaki
Summary: Three came to Inkopolis to escape her family. She didn't expect to get roped into fighting a supposedly extinct race, but that's manageable in the end. What's more surprising to her is that these new squids she's met care more for her than she had expected them to. And for as much as she tries to put up a wall, they seem adamant to tear it down.She supposes she might as well start getting used to this new normal.-I'm currently in the process of rewriting this and will take a month or two long break before replacing/updating this story
Relationships: Agent 3 & Callie & Marie (Splatoon), Agent 3 & Cap'n Cuttlefish, Callie & Cap'n Cuttlefish & Marie
Comments: 54
Kudos: 94





	1. escape into your lives

Inkopolis Plaza was much more crowded than she had initially expected it to be. Busy inklings moving from store to store as they went about their day, a multitude of them heading towards the tower to participate in turf wars.

Just looking at them all move about was enough to make her head spin. It was all too much and she still wasn't in the right headspace to deal with any of it at the moment. What she needed was a quiet place to just take a quick breather. An abandoned vending machine behind the stores caught her attention; not a single inkling near it.

Perfect.

Gripping tightly onto the straps of her bag, she made her way towards the vending machine. But just as she was but no more than few feet away from it, the manhole cover nearby lifted just enough for an inkling's head to poke out. She froze as the two wordlessly stared into each other's eyes for the briefest of moments before he slipped back into the manhole.

What was _that?_

Or rather— _who_?

Checking to see if any other inkling had just seen what happened—no one had, all too engrossed in their own activities— she bit her lower lip, wondering if she could play it off as a hallucination.

But what if he ran into trouble? He looked so old, as if the simplest of breezes would knock him over.

Steeling herself and taking a deep breath, she slipped through the grate. What she saw when she shifted back into her inkling form was nothing like what she expected. She figured they would be in a dark sewer—given the manhole and all—but the sight that greeted her was anything but.

It was relatively bright to begin with— again the opposite of what she expected—and it was an almost scenic sight. Until she looked close enough to realize that they were more like backdrops meant to resemble the surface. And there were so many floating platforms. This wasn't inkling technology by any means.

She would have tried to explore the area further, but the moment the older inkling saw her he started shouting.

“The octarians are coming!”

She blinked. Once. Twice.

Yeah, no. She was still here. And the old man was still yapping away, something about the octarians and the Great Zapfish. What was she meant to do _now_?

She knew what octarians were— or _are_ since they apparently aren’t as extinct as she thought— but she didn’t know what that had to do with the Great Zapfish.

All she knew was that it had been kidnapped a couple of weeks ago. Nothing more.

“I’ll take your silence to mean, ‘Yes of course I’ll help!’”

She whipped her head back to look at him in surprise. She’d been so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even realize what she had apparently just signed up for.

He continued to speak, ignoring her dumbfounded stare. “Starting today, you are Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon! I’ve got an old uniform you can wear in the shack, if you’d like to try it out now. The sooner you gear up, the sooner we can take down this octarian menace!”

She felt her eye twitch in annoyance.

At this point she had two options: 1. Completely ignore everything that this old inkling had just said and return to the plaza where nothing was waiting for her and where—if he was telling the truth—they might soon be overrun, or 2. Put on the blasted gear and help him with whatever he needed.

In the end she guessed the answer was pretty obvious. Sighing, she nodded at the older inkling and headed into the rundown shack behind him.

Setting her bag down beside an old worn couch, she immediately found the bright yellow vest that the captain must have been talking about. Taking her own sweater off, she slipped into her new uniform, the clothing fitting her just right. And quite comfortable to boot. Stuffing her abandoned clothes into her bag, she realized that in the process of changing she had dropped something.

Reaching out for the object, she picked it up. She grimaced the moment she realized what it was.

Scoffing she raised her hand up, watching as the light reflected off of the metal surface. She didn't need this anymore. That life would be left behind, just as they had left her in a sense.

_Even of you're the one who left them_ , she thought.

She shook her head. No matter.

She was Agent 3 now.

Three. That would make a nice name for the time being.

She spared one last look at it before shoving the golden toothpick into one of the bag's pockets. Out of sight, out of mind.

Three walked out of the shack without looking behind her. Shutting the already worn door with more force than required.

* * *

It took all but a few days out in the field to realize that the whole 'saving the zapfish' business would be tougher than anticipated. For one, most of these octarians held no sympathy for her. Focused only on preventing her from taking back the stolen zapfish.

Despite that, Three refused to harm them if she could help it—not anymore. Choosing instead to swim slowly and carefully through her ink or simply trying to outrun them. It worked for the most part. For those that she couldn't get past and that seemed more hesitant to attack her, she held a secret weapon.

If there was a single lesson she was grateful for her parents having taught her—besides the copious amounts of battle training—it was learning how to speak Octanese.

Most inklings nowadays didn't know the language even existed; what with the octarians no longer living amongst them. But there were very few remaining families who made sure that they kept the language alive to teach the future generations. And Three's was one of them.

It made sense to her now, thanks to the sunken scrolls she had found scattered throughout the kettles. The war happened less than one hundred years ago, and the inklings and octarians had seemed to get along well enough before then. Even now, the octarians had somehow managed to get a hold of some of their magazine clippings and translated them into their own language.

Which she also took to mean that they had at least a few octarians within their group that knew Inklish as well.

With her being able to understand and talk with them, she could try to convince them to stand down so as to not hurt them.

Much to her surprise it had actually worked! For the most part, at least.

A good portion of them agreed with her pleads, letting her go after the shot their armor with a small amount of ink to help convince their superiors. Although they had clearly over exaggerated their stories, since as she went on more of them either ran before she could get close or attacked the moment they laid eyes on her.

That was when she would find herself forced to splat them. And only when she was completely sure that they had respawn points of their own.

The one rule she always followed, no matter how aggressive the octarians might become, was to _never_ splat any of them after releasing the zapfish. She knew that they sapped enough of their energy to have the areas running a while longer, but she didn't know if it would affect the respawn pads since they took up more energy than running some lights. Theoretically they might have enough to respawn since they're platforms remained in the air, but she refused to take that chance.

Just in case.

In terms of completing the areas themselves, she would usually be able to knock out one per day. The captain was even nice enough to let her bunk in his shack on the nights where he wanted to patrol the areas she had cleared out on his own. He promised her it was patrol only, and that he wouldn’t engage with any of them if he ran into anyone.

Not that he ever had to, since the octarians would always abandon the kettles once she rescued the zapfish.

Things were going steady enough, despite the physical demands of the job. And if Three was being honest, spending time with Cap’n Cuttlefish was…fun.

He was almost like a grandfather of sorts. Making her food whenever she returned from clearing out an area—always the same stew for some reason, but she wasn't particularly picky with what was offered.

“Eat up. You'll need the strength for tomorrow!”

“…Thank you for the food sir...”

“None of that 'sir' nonsense! Call me 'Cap'n Cuttlefish' if you must.”

He didn't bring attention to the fact that that was the first time she spoke to him, instead the corners of his eyes wrinkled in glee. Three smiled around her bowl of soup.

They were close enough now that she trusted him enough to speak with him. Choosing to drop the silent persona she usually held.

He told her stories of the other two agents—who she had yet to meet—and of his granddaughters. Some of her favorites were the ones of when he was younger. Of the battles he fought to save the inklings in the war.

Although in the end Three knew better. There was obviously more that he refused to tell her, but that was fine. She wasn't one to push and if he wanted to keep some details to himself, well...it made her a bit dubious of his intentions in regards to the octarians, but she would still help in her own way.

Maybe she would be able to have a proper conversation with an octarian one day to get the full story. After she rescued the Great Zapfish.

For now things were going well. Almost _too_ well.

Up until the third boss kettle.

She had just defeated the boss. The captain and her were meant to be celebrating. He was even going to introduce her to the other two agents.

If only she hadn't been so far away from the shack. She was left unable to do anything but listen as whoever it was took him away.

Even then she rushed back to their base, ransacking through the entire place in a panic for any signs of the captain being there. Nothing.

Three spent that night unable to get a single wink of sleep. Thinking only of all the possible scenarios in which she was able to save him in time. Or even if the other two agents had decided to check up on things and save him in her place. But thinking changed nothing.

With or without their help, she would get him back.

* * *

She headed to then next kettle the moment her alarm rang, slamming a hand on her phone to silence it. Holstering her hero shot, she made her way through it.

It was difficult to traverse on her own, although that might have more to do with the fact that the familiar voice she was used to having in her ears was no longer there rather than with the soldiers themselves. She was just beginning to wonder if she should risk going for another kettle when her headset crackled.

Her chest filled with hope as she opened her beak to speak, but not before a new voice cut her off.

And was it…upside down?

How? Just _how_?

It didn't take a genius to figure out who this was. Who they were.

Agents 1 and 2.

Three fell back into her silent habit, which the two were fine with if their lack of comments about it where anything to go off of. She moved to the next kettle, surprising them, but they didn't bother trying to convince her otherwise.

They were confused when they realized Three's way of fighting, or lack thereof, which was why Three started turning her communicator— and camera—off whenever she spoke to the octarians. If the captain held his reservations in regards to the way she worked, she figured One and Two would as well. And she still had no idea what to make of them.

She had managed to pass it off as a technology error thus far. Two was often annoyed, but figured they could fix it later on.

Still, they helped her when she needed it. And as they worked together, Three learned more about the two.

One was energetic, almost overly so. She was optimistic, looking for the positive side to any situation. Always trying to raise her spirits after those particularly strenuous battles. Three could appreciate that.

Two was more closed off. Speaking only when necessary, and usually only in response to One. When she did speak to her, it was all sarcastic quips. Unless she got injured. Then it was all questions of how she was feeling and if she needed them to patch her up.

A shake of her head was enough to get her to go back to her original manner of conversation. To backhanded compliments.

They were fun in their own way, she supposed.

Right now she needed to focus on this kettle though.

She'd already managed to get past the other octolings, only speaking to those without goggles since they were the ones who would usually let her pass—she still didn't understand why that was, but she was thankful for what she could get. The zapfish was waiting on a small platform above. Grinning to herself, she walked up to the ink rail that would take her straight to it.

And then someone shot her.

The force of the ink sent her sprawling on her back, but with her quick reflexes she leapt back up. Three looked up at the octoling, her helmet now lying crooked on her head and slightly obstructing her view, but she didn't bother righting it.

She noticed a pair of goggles dangling from the octoling's neck.

Reaching up slowly, she turned off her headset and put away her weapon. “I won't shoot, so if you could please put your weapon down, it'd be much appreciated.”

* * *

Three exhaled harshly as she walked back to the base, the zapfish squirming playfully in her arms. It wouldn’t be long before Two found some way to turn her communicator back on.

“ _What. Was._ That _?!_ ” Ah, speak of the devil.

“ _Oh c’mon Mar— er, Two. I’m sure she just accidentally turned her communicator off. It’s fine now!_ ” One laughed, and Three felt the corners of her own mouth curl up at the sound. “ _Besides, I’m more surprised at the fact that she actually spoke to us! I almost thought she was mute_!”

Three frowned. “'M' not mute,” she grumbled. “You're just too loud.”

One gasped in offense while Two laughed in the background. “ _She's got you there!_ ” That was new, Three hadn't heard her laugh before. Two seemed to realize and coughed to hide her embarrassment, “ _Anyways, make sure the zapfish gets back safe. We'll pick it up once we finish up our business here._ ”

The youngest inkling hummed in agreement. Well, since they were on speaking terms now…

“Say, what do you two do while I'm out here? You both must be awfully busy if you can't come out to the field anymore.”

Furious whispers were exchanged between them, but Three ignored it for the most part. They were all entitled to their secrets, but she would appreciate an explanation.

“ _Well, I guess you could say we're as busy as idols!_ ”

“One!” Two hissed at her fellow agent.

“ _What?!_ ”

Three shook her head as the two started squabbling with each other. The shack was within view now. “Y'know what? Forget it.”

She nudged open the door with her foot and placed the zapfish on the floor, watching in amusement as it immediately set to explore everything. Not that there was much to see. It soon came back to her side and focused it's attention to her bag.

Picking it up and unzipping it, she took out a small bag of treats and held one out towards it. The zapfish eagerly took it before swimming to another room to enjoy it's meal.

“ _Awwww! Do you always feed the zapfish?_ ”

Right. They were still here.

She fell onto the couch and threw her head back, knowing that all the camera would pick up would be the peeling paint on the ceiling. “Yeah. I enjoy giving treats to all the zapfish around the plaza too. They seem to like this brand in particular.” Sealing the packet, she tossed it back into her bag; knowing by the slight rustling that it landed perfectly inside.

There was the sound of something shuffling in the background before Two spoke up. “ _Since you asked us a question, now it's our turn._ ”

“What? Are we playing twenty questions now?” Three scoffed.

“ _Sure_ ,” Two shot back without missing a beat. “ _What do_ you _do on your time off?_ ”

Three stretched out her arms in front of her. “I don't really have the time to do much honestly. I only moved here to Inkopolis a couple of weeks ago. And whenever I finished clearing out a kettle, I would just spend time with the captain. Now I don't really have time for that.” Not with her doing two a day. It was starting to get tiring, but she had to keep going. She _would_ keep going.

“ _You don't do anything for fun? No turf wars? No clothes shopping?_ ” One asked, appalled at the very idea of not participating in anything of the sort. That was practically what every inkling's life revolved around. Every inkling with a normal upbringing.

“Nah. I've had enough of battles. I'm only doing this because the captain asked me to.”

“ _But_ —“

“Nerp! It's your guys' turn.” She brought a finger to her mouth as she thought of what to ask them. “How about you guys? Why were you both recruited? Apart from being the captain's granddaughters?”

“ _He told you_.”

Three shook her head, jostling the camera along with her head. “Not exactly, but context clues, y'know?”

“ _Of course he would find a way to accidentally spill our secret. He went to One first— obviously given our code names— after she impressed him with her roller skills. Then she kept nagging him to let me join too. Kept asking to spar against me without ever telling me why. Then those sparring lessons turned into sneak attacks to prove that I was capable. Gramps finally agreed when she forgot her roller and came at me with a net instead._ ” She laughed as her cousin whined at her to not tell the rest of the story. “ _She managed to nick me pretty nicely on the forehead. And then she ended up flat on her back when I flipped her over my shoulder_.”

“ _Gramps immediately agreed to let her become an agent of the_ _S_ _platoon! I mean, he was going to anyways, but that really sealed the deal._ ”

Three could hear the smile on Two's face as she spoke to her. “ _Right. Hey Three, once this is over I might even show you the scar and tell you even more_ _embarrassing_ _stories involving One._ ”

“Looking forward to it,” Three murmured.

“ _Alright! My turn!_ ” Callie announced enthusiastically.

Well, she could put up with nineteen more questions before continuing onto the next area.

“Shoot.”

* * *

Marie sighed as Three's signal disappeared again and the small screen in front of them went black. “Yeah sure, just another accident. The tenth one today,” she muttered.

Callie laughed and shoved her shoulder against her cousin's. “Aw, c'mon! She must have a good reason for it! Besides, if nothing else at least we know more about each other with each passing day!”

The younger inkling gave her a long look. Leave it to her cousin to find the positive side to things. “Yeah. She's not a bad squid, I can at least tell that much. A bit secretive though.”

“It's not like we have much room to talk,” Callie pointed out. “Think she'd flip if we told her who we actually are?”

Marie raised a brow, looking down at the magazine in her lap. “You'd really tell a stranger our identities?”

“Three isn't a stranger!”

“Right. Three—the agent we have yet to meet face to face—isn't a stranger.” Callie huffed in annoyance at her sarcasm. “Regardless, that might not be the best idea.” She turned back to face the pink squid. “We still don't know all that much about her. Think about it. Some random inkling just shows up to Inkopolis, and the first thing she does is join an illegal group that no one knows about, meant to fight against a group of enemy octarians that, again, no one has any clue exists.”

Callie shrugged, “It's not _that_ stra—“

“No. Just...” Marie sighed and took her cousin's hand in her own, surprising her. “Listen. No matter how you look at it, it's odd that some well trained inkling joins us without any real reason to. And she claims that she doesn't participate in turf wars. No one gets that good at fighting without some form of training. I don't want you or Gramps to be in danger when this is all said and done.”

Callie looked deep into Marie's eyes. At the hardened honesty shining within them. She stood up, sliding her hand out from her cousin's loose hold. “I know. But trust _me_ when I say that I'm sure she's a good person. You know I've got a knack for figuring out other's true intentions. And I _know_ Three isn't a bad squid. Maybe a bit closed off for now, but hey! That just reminds me of you.”

Marie's ear twitched slightly at that and Callie struggled to hide her grin.

“Look, let's just trust her good intentions for now unless she proves otherwise. Deal?”

She held her hand out, Marie staring at it for the briefest of moments before sighing and taking it.

“Okay.”

Callie perked up, shaking their hands roughly. “Great!” She turned back to the screen noticing that Three had turned it back on sometime during their talk. The zapfish was visible within the frame now. “Looks like she just rescued the last little guy. All that's left now is...”

“The Great Zapfish,” Marie finished.

“She's going to need help.”

“Of course. I wasn't going to let her fight this one alone. Who do you take me for Cal?” Despite the question, she grinned and stood up, taking her undercover clothes off the closet door. She tossed a pair of shades at her cousin, before slipping her mask onto her face. “Ready to finally take the Great Zapfish back?”

“And Gramps!”

“Oh, _now_ you remember.”

Callie laughed and took her hand, taking the small tablet in her free one before dragging her cousin behind her as they left their room.

“Oh shut up! Let's just go and help Three already!”

Marie smiled behind her mask. “Right behind you.”


	2. fight to the frenzied beat of our hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three finds herself in a fight with the Octarian King himself.  
> -  
> tw for descriptions of injuries and blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It really has been more than a month huh? Welp!

Her fingers ran down the sides of the golden toothpick, mindlessly tracing patterns against the cold metal as she waited for Agent 2's signal. This was it. She was finally gonna face DJ Octavio himself.

Three briefly wondered what he even looked like. One of the scrolls she had found showed him and the captain being amicable with one another; a reminder of a calmer time before the Great Turf War. They had both looked to be around their middle twenties, although she couldn't be completely certain given the fact that it was old now and had likely been blurry when it was first taken.

The drawn posters hanging around everywhere in the valley only showed him in his octopus form. Did he just stay like that? Three figured she'd find out soon enough.

She winced as the pointed end of the accessory dug into the skin of her fingertip. Three scowled at the offending object and slammed it into her open bag before digging through the rest of her things in the hope of finding something else to distract her mind with. There wasn't much in there to begin with. Just a few changes of clothes, some snacks (for both herself and the zapfish), and… her language dictionary.

It wasn't like she really needed the lessons anymore, only rarely stumbling over her Octanese, but it would do to help her relax for now. She flipped through the pages slowly, scanning the words but none of it really registering in her mind.

Instead her thoughts wandered to the various octolings that she had faced in the past few weeks. In the month that she had been working in the NSS, she'd been able to talk her way out with some of them and was forced to battle against so many more. There was something there, beneath their reasons for taking the zapfish, that confused her though. Like why only certain ones would be willing to be somewhat civil with her while others straight up attacked her on sight.

It might just have to do with their individual personalities and beliefs, but something felt off. Surely there was more to it than that. Maybe, had she the time, she could've investigated further, but the sudden sharp click in her ears reminded her that time had run out.

Two's voice crackled through her headset. “Everything is pretty much set on our end. Ready to go Three?”

“'Pretty much'?” Three questioned, swiping her Hero Shot and standing up. She jogged out of the cabin, making sure to shut the door behind her— so as to keep the zapfish sleeping inside from escaping— before heading towards the boss kettle.

“Look, this is a bit of a last minute thing. We thought you wouldn't get to this stage until _at least_ another week from now. Also these speakers are really heavy.”

Three barked a laugh as she reached the edge of the valley, not even questioning why they needed a speaker for in a fight. She had come to realize that they were both a tad odd. “Wow! How supportive of you. You've both greatly underestimated me.” She leaned back to get ready to super jump.

“ _I_ didn't!” Callie piped up from somewhere in the background.

“Whatever,” Two scoffed as Three soared through the air. Her voice softened as she spoke to the younger agent. “Good luck, Agent 3.”

I'll need it, the orange inkling thought as she landed atop the kettle. It was then that she realized that she still held the dictionary in her hands. She nervously bit her lip as she reasoned that going back would be a waste of time. But she also didn't want to leave it here to get dirty.

Shrugging, she shoved it into the inside of her vest. Worst case scenario: she drops it and trips over the blasted thing.

Looking down at the kettle, she took a deep breath before shifting forms, disappearing into the dark underground.

* * *

Three's breaths came out in a wheeze, the adrenaline that came along with being in a literal fight for her life starting to fade the longer they dragged this out. Her whole body ached, and if she somehow managed to make it out she would have to patch up multiple bruises and scrapes.

This fight had already gone on for far longer than she had originally expected it to. And it certainly didn't help that she had to maneuver through all these platforms _in addition to_ dodging the various projectiles aimed her way, all just to try and get a shot at the Octobot. Which she hadn't been able to accomplish yet.

She scowled as Octavio cackled from where he sat safely within the Octobot.

Her helmet had been cracked for the past half hour now and the thick puffy jacket she'd worn when she came in had since fallen apart. Where were One and Two? They should have been here a while ago.

Her mind tried to convince her that they had abandoned her. Three desperately shoved those intrusive thoughts away. One and Two weren't the type of inklings to leave her to fend for herself. Of that much she was certain.

The cheers of the octarians and octolings reverberated throughout the dome, doing nothing to help her already pounding head. Moving a hand to her chin, she unbuckled the helmet, letting it fall to the floor behind her. Sweat poured down her face, blurring her vision, as she tried to keep her breathing under control. She had practically been moving by pure reflexes at this point. Dodge to avoid the missiles. Shoot at the metal hands before they got too close. Step to the side when a bomb was thrown her way. Jump to the next platform.

Almost like clockwork. So much like the lessons back home.

She hated it.

Dodge. Shoot. Step. Dodge again. Step. No, wait— Three raised her Hero Shot to aim a moment too late, a missile landing near her feet not even a moment after. She barely managed to side step in time, the purple ink splashing all around and sticking to her clothes.

She ground her teeth together, glaring up at her opponent who seemed to be enjoying toying with her. This was a game of cat and mouse to him— even if the roles seemed to be reversed, but it was clear who had the advantage. There wasn't any time to wait for Agents 1 and 2. She had to try to take him head on.

Three took a moment to let him shoot his missiles again, dodging them before lunging forwards. If she could just get one shot directly at him, that would be the end of it. Just a little bit closer… the sudden wall that materialized between them startled her, forcing her to take a step back.

From the corner of her eye, she just barely managed to make out the shape of a fist heading straight for her. She tried to throw herself to the side in a last second attempt to avoid it, but couldn't move out of the way in time.

The fist caught her mid-jump, slamming full force into her side and sending her flying back. Stars filled her vision as the wind was knocked out of her. She skid across the floor, back hitting a crate and shattering it. Pressing a hand against her chest, she desperately tried to regulate her breathing, sucking in as much air as she could. She was still in the middle of a fight. Move. Move!

She pushed against the floor, rolling her body in order to avoid another bomb, the ink landing on her face this time. It stung, but that was nowhere near the same level of pain she felt in her side.

“No more,” she rasped.

Three couldn't keep up anymore. Octavio was so much more than she had been expecting.

She glanced up to where Cap'n Cuttlefish was, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes as he looked down at her in horror.

The young inkling he had picked up without a second thought was fighting for his sake. Fighting and losing.

Three grit her beak and pushed herself up, forcing her body to ignore the pain. The viscous blue liquid dripping through the fingers pressed against her side. She had to keep going. To save the Great Zapfish.

To save the captain.

She managed to stand on her feet, stumbling slightly as her vision swam, just barely being able to make out the form of the Octobot before her. Her fingers trembling as she tried to aim her Hero Shot at it.

Oh cod. She couldn't do this. Not when she couldn't even properly focus her eyes more than a few feet in front of her.

Her grip on her Hero Shot loosened as she stared straight up at DJ Octavio in fear.

He had given her a moment to try. To see if her spirit could keep up with him, but he was growing more bored by the second.

Three could only wait as he got ready to aim the metallic hand towards her again. Raise the Hero Shot. Just raise it. For once in your life do something useful. Raise the Hero Shot!

She didn't even bother trying to close her eyes as the blurred image of it drew closer.

It was over.

A voice suddenly echoed from the speakers, the same familiar upside down vocals that Three could easily make out now. “Agent 3! Can you hear our song?”

One!

From beside her, she watched the captain miraculously free himself from the ropes that were entangled around him. The same rush of power that he received she could feel beginning to fill her own body, completely numbing the pain— if even just for now.

Three smirked, now all confidence and sharp teeth. “Bring it DJ!” she yelled up to the dumbfounded octarian king.

The music that had come out of nowhere had startled him mid-attack, the hand retracting back into place. She had multiple questions running through her mind too, but couldn't even begin to focus on just a single one. Right now she would have to trust herself to run on instinct.

_This_ _is my_ _chance_. With a cry, she pressed forward, the new surge of energy easily allowing her to push him back as he started desperately showering attack after attack all around her.

Three somehow dodged each and every one of them and still managed to shoot the machine, weakening it enough to break through the barrier.

Octavio looked around for any method of escape, his expression morphing into reluctant acceptance as he realized he had nowhere else to run.

“Now! Strike the finishing blow!”

Three raised her Hero Shot and stared at DJ Octavio square in the eye. He glared defiantly back at her.

She smiled.

“Game over.”

Her finger hovered against the trigger for a moment, making a split second decision before jumping up to him. Aiming down at the control panels, she shot a glob of orange ink, gunking up the buttons and turntables. Octavio let out a garbled noise of confusion as she tugged on his tentacles, pulling him up from his seat and down towards the ground as the Octobot started shaking haphazardly in the air.

Dropping him in a puddle of her ink beside the captain, so as to keep him from running off, she jumped down and stood in front of them as the machine blew apart, using the ink from her Hero Shot to prevent the flying debris from hitting them.

The pieces flung against the walls of the underground cave and the railings in front of the octarians. A stray metal piece knocked her weapon out of her hand, sending it clattering down onto the floor below. She opted for shoving them all out of the way as the rest of the machine landed where they had been moments prior.

Keeping an arm outstretched, she turned back to make sure that had truly been the last of it before moving to help Cap'n Cuttlefish up. He smiled widely at her in relief and pride.

“I knew you could do it, Agent 3.”

Three returned the smile, ears perking up slightly as the sounds of the two other agents came closer. Hastily stepping out of the way as they threw themselves at their grandfather, she nodded to herself and jumped off of the platform, wincing slightly as she landed; the injury in her side beginning to throb slightly as the effects of the Inkantation washed away. She walked over to pick up the Hero Shot, casting a concerned glance at the rest of the octarians as they started pounding on the railings in a frenzy.

She briefly wondered what they were doing before turning to look back up at the rest of the splatoon; it wasn't like they posed them much of a threat without their leader. She hoped so, at least. Above her, One and Two— or rather Callie and Marie, and wow, she was gonna freak out later when she fully registered where she had seen them before— were talking away, looking over Cap'n Cuttlefish to make sure he wasn't too banged up.

Three grinned softly at the heartwarming scene in front of her, laughing to herself as she caught the DJ's displeased glare as he lay beside them— tied up with the same remains of the ropes that had been around his enemy just moments prior. The sight of his enemy celebrating with his granddaughters after having defeated him must be humiliating. Sucks to be him.

Marie pulled away from the hug briefly to turn and look down at her. Three cocked her head to the side as the agent motioned a hand towards her before pointing to the other two. It took her a moment to realize that she wanted her to join them.

Grinning, she held in tightly to her Hero Shot and made move to super jump to them… just as all hell broke loose.

While they had been busy restraining Octavio and celebrating, the octolings had managed to tear down the barriers that stood between them and their chance at freedom. And needless to say, the tired and battered inkling was none of their concern as they all rushed past her in an attempt to reach the surface.

Three's hearts lurched in her chest as one octoling shoved into her rather forcefully, making her lose her balance and trip over her own feet as she tried to regain it to no avail. Grunting as her back met the floor, she reflexively curled into as tight of a ball as she could to try and avoid the stomping boots around her. Fear gripped her as she realized that all it would take was one particularly hard hit to the head to knock her out.

She'd defeated DJ Octavio only to possibly die here instead.

A sudden growl came from above followed by the sound of someone grunting as they were shoved. She felt someone wrap their hands around her upper body as they dragged her towards an empty area. Lifting her head just enough to see who it was, she caught sight of a green shirt, it's owner looking down at her in concern as Callie fell to one knee beside them.

She was about to thank them, when they both moved to stand in front of her, the pink inkling letting out another low growl in warning. Looking up in confusion, her eyes widened as she realized who it was. Familiar teal tipped tentacles curling anxiously as she stood in front of them

_Octo soldier._

The octoling looked from the two agents to her in slight fear, but Three caught something else swimming within her eyes. There wasn't any time to try and convince her fellow agents to stand down as the sudden influx of enemy octolings increased, all of them moving to capture their fleeing soldiers. If she stayed here any longer, the other octoling would meet the same fate.

“Go,” she whispered low enough to keep the two beside her from hearing. Hopefully the octoling could make out what she said. Or at least take note of her dwindling window of escape.

Lowering her gaze, she caught sight of a familiar book. _Guess it_ _did slip without me noticing._

Might as well let someone who needed it keep it. Locking eyes with her, she nodded once, watching her hesitate for a split second before turning to run.

Callie made a small noise of confusion at the odd interaction while Marie turned her attention towards her. The youngest squirmed uncomfortably as golden eyes roamed over her figure.

“You're filthy. Also full offense, you kinda stink.”

Three laughed awkwardly, ignoring the urge to point out that she had just spent the past hour fighting. “Is now really the time to talk?” She tried deflecting any further comments by pointing up towards their current problem. The two followed their gazes to where her finger pointed, eyes widening as they saw a group of octolings heading towards the captain and DJ, presumably to release their leader.

Scrambling to their feet, they all bolted towards them, fighting off the octolings along the way. Three made sure to only shove them enough to throw them off their feet but the other agents didn't bother playing nice. She found herself wincing in sympathy as Callie slugged one of them in the face, knocking them unconscious.

They managed to make it up to the two older cephalopods, the captain having fought off the remaining octolings on his own. Throwing Octavio's form over her shoulder, Three felt a sudden rumbling coming from beneath their feet. Glancing up, she noticed that the ceiling above them was crumbling.

The whole thing was going to come down. They needed to get out _now_.

“I've got the DJ, but we need to leave before we're all buried alive!”

Marie and Callie nodded, the latter grasping her grandfather's wrist as they all ran to look for an exit. Three ignored the multiple curses spilling from Octavio's beak as she jostled him. He'd thank her when they made it out alive.

The green inkling remembered the entrance they had come in through, moving ahead she led them to it. Luckily for them, the other octolings had also focused their attention to fleeing the area as well, all of them helping one another into the various secret entrances that led further underground.

Three heard rather than saw the large chunk of the ceiling break before dropping down in front of her. She used the DJ's body weight to twist around just in time to avoid it.

She was about to move around it, when she caught the shadow of a figure beside her. Turning around, she was surprised to see a young octoling staring blankly at her.

The inkling furrowed her brow as they both remained still. They didn't seem to be that much older than her, perhaps by no more than a year or two. Regardless, she didn't have the time for this. She would gladly play the pacifist at any other time, but they were moments away from being squashed.

Clashing her teeth together, she tossed the disgruntled DJ over the fallen debris, yelling at Marie to get them all out, assuring her that she would follow right behind them. She didn't bother looking to see of they had done as she asked, instead keeping her eyes on her opponent.

Three couldn't tell what the octoling wanted, it was baffling to her that they hadn't tried to take their leader back. She offhandedly took note of the lack of goggles, but that didn't matter now.

“ _You'll kill us both if we stay here having a staring contest._ ”

The octoling shifted, tilting their head slightly and looking confused at her apparent ability to speak Octanese, but made no move to run. Their time and Three's patience was running out, but the octoling suddenly took a step in her direction. They muttered something softly, but Three's attention was drawn elsewhere.

She reflexively raised her Hero Shot, and charged at them.

Shoving them harshly to the side, she aimed at another octoling behind them who had seemed all to willing to shoot their own fellow soldier if it meant getting her too. The force of ink knocked them back, and she whirled around to the other octoling; ready to take them with her at this point if it meant them getting out.

The moment she looked down she froze. Large red eyes looking up at her in fear as blue blood ran down their chin, the large gash on their lips being the clear cause of it. The same blue liquid stained the rubble behind them. Three hadn't meant to push them hard enough to injure them.

She realized that she was still holding her Hero Shot up and had it aimed towards the frightened octoling.

Three stumbled through her words, hastily lowering her weapon. “I- I'm sorry… I didn't _mean_ —“

“THREE!”

She whipped her head around to see Marie sprinting towards them, and slightly to her left was another octoling coming their way as well, another already dragging away the unconscious octoling's body. Grasping onto the injured octoling's arm, inwardly apologizing at the squeak of fear they let out, she shoved them into the other soldier's arms

“ _Get everyone out of here_ ,” she hurriedly muttered towards the confused octoling before turning to her teammate and stretching her arms out in front of them. Marie glared at their retreating forms before focusing her gaze on the younger agent. “Leave them be. We should get moving ourselves.”

“That's precisely why I came back,” she hissed. “You're too reckless. What where you _thinking_ staying behind for them?!”

Three sighed. “Now isn't the time.” She reached out to clasp onto her wrist. “Cap'n must be waiting for us already.”

Marie grumbled, but took the lead despite the hold. They both dodged the rapidly increasing debris falling around them. Up ahead Callie and the captain where shouting and waving their arms around to catch their attention.

The moment they stepped out, the mountain behind them roared as the entrance collapsed into itself, sealing away everyone that remained inside. Three hoped that the octarians had managed to escape deeper underground, because if they hadn't it would all be her fault. She swallowed hard at the thought, any lives lost would be on her, wouldn't they?

She looked to the ground in shame.

* * *

“Well, there goes our quick way of getting back home,” Callie lamented as she leaned against her cousin. “Now we have to _walk_ all the way back!”

Her cousin grumbled and shook her off. They both watched as Three stepped over to Octavio, holding onto one of his tentacles as she prepared to lift him up again.

The hiss of pain that the agent let out at the action didn't escape Marie's attention, eyes widening as she saw her already stained hand move to cover her still bleeding side.

“Marie, wha—“ Callie looked at her in befuddlement as she slapped the youngest agent's hand away from her injury. 'Oh...” That did not look good.

“How long were you planning on keeping quiet about this?!” Marie yelled at the orange inkling, who only stared up at her quietly with wide eyes. “That just makes the stunt you pulled all the more stupid! Do you not think before you act?!”

Callie looked at them in concern, especially when Three's eyes glossed over as Marie continued to berate her. She knew her cousin was only doing this out of concern, but she had yet to notice the effect it was having on the agent. It was almost as if instead of Marie, it was someone else she was seeing.

Time to step in.

“I'll carry Three back, while you take Octavio.” She laid a hand on her cousin's shoulder, getting her attention. They shared a look for a moment before Marie let go of Three's arm and moved towards Octavio. Callie ran a hand up and down Three's back in a soothing gesture; that was enough to knock her out of the stupor she was in. “Gramps should be fine to walk on his own. Right, Gramps?” she called out to him.

“You bet! I've been sitting still for so long I could run for hours!” He flexed his free arm.

Marie groaned at the sight.

“Sure Gramps. But maybe save that for another day.” Not even bothering to properly pick him up, she started dragging the octarian king through the dirt. The captain fell into step beside them as he tried to start up a conversation with the silent DJ, who ignored him in favor of cursing out the idol.

Three pointedly looked to the side as Callie stood in front of her, doing her best to avoid looking into warm eyes.

“I can probably carry you as you are, but it might be less embarrassing for you if you're in squid form,” Callie softly said.

Three nodded silently and shifted, Callie quick to catch her before she landed on the dirt below. She watched the younger inkling nervously snuggle closer to her chest as the she moved her around into a comfortable position for them both.

Satisfied that she wouldn't be jostled to much on the way back, Callie began the trek down the mountain, easily catching up to her cousin and engaging in idle conversation.

As they were trying to figure out how they would let everyone know that the Great Zapfish was back, she noticed the orange inkling struggle to keep her eyes open— the exhaustion from the battle along with the rocking movements that came with every step the older inkling took wasn't exactly helping her stay awake.

Callie smiled softly, moving from their topic of conversation in favor of humming a new song she had been working on. Her cousin sent her a confused look and she gestured with her head towards the now sleeping inkling in her arms.

Marie stared at them both for a moment before turning her attention back to the path in front of them. Callie could see the grin she tried to hide and smiled wider; hugging Three closer to herself as the lights of Inkopolis could be seen shining above the trees.

* * *

Safe to say, their attempt to escape tonight had been a bust.

August pressed the back of her hand against her lip, trying to wipe away the remaining blood; although most of it had dried up at that point. Beside her, her best friend was struggling to uncap the bottle in his hands to help clean out their injuries.

Sighing, she snatched the bottle from him and easily unscrewed it, smirking at him as he stared at her in disbelief.

“Hey! I'd already loosened that up for you!” he playfully argued, bumping their shoulders together.

August chuckled as she grabbed a rag and poured some of the liquid onto it, pressing the fabric to her face before handing it back to the other octoling. “Whatever you say, Jules.”

July laughed, but followed the same motions with his own cloth before dabbing away at the scratches on his arms from where the octolings that had grabbed onto him gripped a little too hard with their claws. They both fell into comfortable silence as they tended to their respective injuries; August helping her friend with a small scrape on his back that he couldn't quite reach on his own. She noticed him squirming slightly as she did, clearly wanting to ask her something but not knowing how.

“Spit it out, Jules.”

July twisted his upper body around to face her. “Did you really think going up to Agent 3 of all cephalopods was the best idea?”

She sighed, handing his shirt back as he glared at her apparent stupidity. “I don't know,” she huffed. “Something about her was… off. Even if she did take down our king, she doesn't seem like a monster. I thought... she was probably our best to getting out. Fat lot of good that did though.” She ran a claw gently against her top lip, feeling the slight dip in the skin.

“Hey… you heard her speak Octanese too, right? Like, it wasn't just me that heard that?” July quietly asked.

She tilted her head around as she thought. “No… I definitely heard her speak it too. It kinda caught me off guard. Probably why she attacked me they way she did.”

July looked like he wanted to say something, but was interrupted by the door slamming open.

An elite octoling walked into the room, tossing two new pairs of goggles at their feet. “Replacements for the ones you two 'lost',”

August scowled down at them as her friend bent down to pick them up. “Is there any need for us to wear them anymore? With our king go—“

“You _will_ wear these,” their superior spoke with an edge. “Unless you'd rather face a punishment for not taking back our king when you were given the opportunity to.”

“What did you expect me to do?! Fight the very inkling who took down so many of our kind?!” August seethed, fists clenched at her sides. She would surely be punished severely for punching an elite, but at that point she would take that over wearing the blasted goggles again.

“You could've at least made an attempt.”

July placed a steady hand on her bicep before she could throw a punch. “We'll do as you say. When are we expected to continue our duties?”

“We'll begin our plans to move to the canyon tomorrow. This place is compromised for the time being, so most of you will be relocated. I expect to see you both there.” She looked August in the eyes. “We're also receiving a shipment of new eye wear sometime next week. It seems we're switching over to shades, so you won't have to deal with the goggles for much longer. Lucky you.”

August had to use all of her restraint to keep herself from knocking out the elite.

July saluted at her, not so subtly elbowing August in her side. Grumbling, she begrudgingly mirrored the action. Satisfied, the octoling left the room, slamming the door behind her.

The male octoling let out a puff of air in relief as August rolled her eyes and moved back to her seat. “Cod damn elites think they can just boss us around whenever they please.”

“I mean they _are_ higher ranked than us.” July held his hands up in defense at the glare sent his way. “Not that I don't agree that they can go too far! The only one who's treated us with respect is Ida.”

August leaned a cheek against her open palm. “Ida escaped.”

“ _Ida_ escaped?!”

“Yeah. Weird right? She was one of the more devoted ones, but things change apparently.”

“Oh… are you…?” July hesitated, letting the unspoken question lie in the air.

“I'm fine Jules. Happy for her even. But I am going to miss her, place won't be the same without her.” She answered. “Shame though. If I had known she wanted to leave that bad, I would have asked her to join us. Seems like it was a recent change of mind for her. She'd been acting weird ever since her run in with the inkling. Wonder what she found?”

“Well about that—,” July fished something out of pocket of his shorts, handing a single USB towards her, “— she gave me this before the big battle. Something about keeping it safe in for her until after we got back. I think there was something she found in one of the elites' files. Weird that she wanted us to have this if she had been planning to leave.”

“What if it's something to help the rest of us escape too?” August breathed, turning the small stick around in her hand. “Or something related to Ahato's disappearance! We might finally figure out where she was relocated!”

July laughed at her excited expression. “Maybe! But for now let's focus on being ready for tomorrow. Big times ahead, you know?”

August slipped the USB into her own pocket, groaning as she grabbed the goggles. “I hate the headaches that come with wearing these things. Plus they leave some of my memories blurred. I really, _really_ hate them.”

“I know Auggie, but I promise this won't last much longer. That melody… it gave me hope that we might be able to see the surface some day. Whether that be by escaping or defeating the inklings, I want to do it with you.” He slipped on his goggles, smile lessening slightly as the dim lights danced around his vision. Still, he held a hand out towards her. “Come hell or high tide?”

She grasped tightly onto his offered hand, and gave a shaky grin. “I'll stay by your side,” she finished.

* * *

When Three came to, it was to the sight of Marie finishing up bandaging her side. Startled, she tried shuffle back only to have the inkling place a hand on her chest to keep her still.

“You'll tear your stitches if you move too much.”

It took her a moment to process the words, but when she did she nodded silently in assent. Marie studied her side for a minute, making sure her work wouldn't fall apart, before pressing a glass of water into her hands. Three hadn't even realized how thirsty she was. The moment the cool water touched her tongue, she had practically downed the entire thing.

Handing the empty glass back with a small 'thanks', she looked around to see that they were back at the cabin. Her weapon and hero suit top lay next to her backpack at the other end of the couch. Marie was sitting on an old wooden chair beside her, still running her fingers against the bandages.

Three opened her mouth to ask where everyone else was, but all that came out was a small rasp. Marie was quick to catch on to what she wanted to ask though, helping her sit up as she explained.

“Cal's out getting more supplies. We had what we needed here, but she was getting antsy looking at the blood, so I sent her out.” She looked back towards the closed door. “The old men are outside. I think Gramps said something about a snow globe, but I haven't gone out to check yet. He can hold his own against just one octarian anyways.”

Marie stood up to throw the used supplies away, lightly tapping Three's leg as she did.

“Rest up a bit longer before you head home kid. You're looking a little pale around the gills. Honestly just in general, although that's probably thanks to the fight.” She stopped, hand frozen on the door, turning her head in her direction. “You did good tonight. Glad to have you on the splatoon.”

They both stared into each other's eyes before Marie broke her gaze away and opened the door. Shouts could be heard from outside, but based off of the older inkling's deep sigh, it wasn't anything to worry about.

Waiting until Marie shut the door behind her, Three reached for her shirt, slipping it over her head with some minor difficulties. Whatever medicine the agent had used had lessened the pain to a dull ache. Marie had done a fantastic job at cleaning and bandaging it up. She wondered if there was a reason for her being so good at it, but she didn't want to pry.

Grabbing the yellow vest, she stuffed it into her bag before slinging it over her shoulder. Forget staying here. If she fell asleep again, she wouldn't be gone til morning.

Standing up, she paused to stare at the Hero Shot. She never took it with her when she was doing her agent work, so there was no reason to want to take it now. But she also knew that there was a chance she wouldn't come back here. Her work was done, after all. The captain and the other agents had no reason to have her around anymore.

Even so, Marie's words left her hoping.

Maybe… maybe this old place could become a permanent constant in her life.

Mind made up, she turned her back to the weapon, sure that she would hold it in her hands again soon.

* * *

After running into Callie as she returned from her supply run— with what seemed to be the store's entire first aid section that she had promptly thrown into her arms— and convincing them all that she could make it back to her place on her own without their help, Three finally found herself walking through the empty streets of the plaza.

Walking into the empty alleyway behind the main stores, she reached up at the last building, grasping onto the edge of the ladder and pulling down. Climbing up the ladder with her backpack and an injury was a bit of a struggle, but she managed. Reaching the top of the building, she tiredly trudged towards her makeshift bed— a couple of blankets and a mound of pillows— and plopped herself down on it.

It wasn't like she didn't have the money to rent out a hotel room at the very least; she had taken enough money with her to last a while in Inkopolis. Yet she still found herself preferring being up high above everyone rather than being stuck in a room all on her own. She had had enough of that back home.

No one had even so much as seen her walking around atop the buildings, although to be fair most inklings despised heights. That seemed to be more of an octoling thing. She could easily walk around like she owned these roofs and no one would care.

She'd even gotten a membership at a small nearby gym to take care of her hygienic needs. Normally she would have gone there immediately after her missions, but she could stand to skip out on that just this once. That would be an issue to solve tomorrow morning, granted she wasn't too sore to move.

For now she wanted nothing more than to sleep. Just as she was settled enough to turn in for the night, the twin voices of the cousins reached her ears. Huh. They must have been called in for a last minute broadcast. It was weird that it was being done so late at night though, considering that no one apart from a few night owls must have been awake.

Holding a single small blanket around her as she stood up, she walked to the edge of the roof, setting herself down and letting her legs dangle over the side of the building. She smiled at the large screen in the middle of the plaza, watching the two cousins banter as Callie tried to convince Marie to sing.

The melody filled her mind as the two sung in harmony. Finally feeling safe and at ease, Three fell onto her back and held the blanket tighter around her form. The smile on her face remained as she drifted off, pretending that the song was meant for no one other than herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out it'll be shenanigans amongst the NSS until we reach the plot of Spla2n. That being said, the next update might take a while because dummy over here picked up far more projects than he should've for the next month or so ;-;  
> Still, hope you guys enjoyed this one!


	3. breaks and cryptids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Defeating the octarian leader deserves some celebration, no? Or at the very least the agents have some downtime before starting up on their duties again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I come back after more than a month with just this...I'm so sorry...

Marie's ear twitched as Callie continued to tap her hands away on the surface of the table, following some new beat the pink girl had come up with on the spot. Someone was clearly excited.

Still, she had to hold back the urge to reach her own hand out to stop Callie. The rhythm itself was nice— a possible base for a future song?— but she had been at it for the past hour now. The poor table would eventually break at this rate.

Well, she could let her keep at it for a while longer. Marie had to admit she was looking forward to their plans for the evening as well, if nothing else than to better get to know the inkling that had saved Inkopolis. She also wanted to make sure her injury had healed well enough.

According to their Gramps, Three had dropped by the shack the day before to greet him. He had then reminded her of his previous offer to hold a small gathering involving all the agents; without the threat of being called into a mission. Three had agreed to meet the next day— today— so long as she was the one to make them something nice to eat.

Cap'n Cuttlefish had informed the two cousins to wait until Three herself picked them up from the studio to head to Octo Valley. Presumably whenever she was done with making dinner.

Callie was ecstatic about the chance to see the other agent again. Marie wasn't exactly sure why since Three wasn't what she would call 'Cal material' —or rather just someone who would be able to keep up with the energetic girl. Then again neither was she and she had managed to survive the past seventeen years seemingly fine. If just barely.

Regardless, while Three was polite and would even humor Callie's antics over the radio sometimes, she had still made it obvious that she intended to keep her distance at the start. Their impromptu game of twenty questions had been proof enough; what with her giving cryptic half-answers.

She hadn't even bothered with telling them her name or age. Having answered the question with a simple 'doesn't matter and old enough'.

And well, okay, _sure_ she may have responded similarly but Marie wasn't about to let some random squid find out who they were! That was a valid enough reason to hold back a few details!

They were both valid!

Anyways, things were different now. Marie figured that if Three had helped them to the extent that she did, then it wouldn't hurt to let her into their lives. Callie seemed adamant enough to make that happen at this point anyways and if she was being honest something about the agent was...intriguing.

At least now she would have someone help her deal with her cousin's never ending energy.

Speaking of…

“Cal, you're going to wear that beat out before we even add lyrics to it.” She gently brushed her bangs to the side. “Maybe save it for the recording booth.”

Callie sighed dramatically but stopped her movements. Instead reaching out for the container lying between them, fiddling with it as she intently watched the lollipops within sway from side to side. Typical Callie. Always looking for something to keep her hands busy.

“When's Three coming? I wanna leave the studio already,” she whined, keeping her focus on the sweets.

“She'll get here when she gets here.”

“Well, no duh.” Callie replied in a mocking tone. Marie glared at her and the pink inkling smiled back innocently. “Anyways! Have they told you what the splatfest theme is gonna be?”

Right. This was going to be their first time hosting the splatfest so they needed to be ready. This was just another big step into making their careers grow.

She leaned her cheek against the palm of her hand. “Nah. Not yet. I'm sure our manager will tell us whenever that old machine spits them out.”

Callie hummed— the same tune as before but at least this was easier on the ears— and Marie turned to wave at a couple of inklings passing by.

“Hey Marie?”

“Yeah?”

“You're not still stuck on the idea that we can't trust Three, are you? You'll play nice with her right?”

“… y'know it's weird to be on the receiving end of accusations when you're the accuser.” Marie huffed.

The other inkling laughed at her exaggerated expression of annoyance. Letting go of the container, she crossed her arms over one another and rested her chin against the small nook she had made, looking up at her with mischievous eyes. “You're always on the receiving end of this kind of conversation!” Callie teased. “But that's just because of your Marie personality.”

“Rude.”

“Eh, It's the truth.” Callie shrugged as best as she could in her position. “My point is, try to get along with Three. Now that Octavio's stuck in his globe, we'll have more downtime. Which means...” She smiled, waiting for her sister to finish her thought. Just as she always does.

“… that we have to band together to tease you whenever you make dumb decisions?” Marie tried.

“No!” Callie looked personally offended at the suggestion. “I swear Marie, if you somehow convince her to do that, I'm throwing you both off of one of the kettles.”

“We can literally just super jump to safety.” Marie reasoned with a grin. It's always so incredibly easy to rile the other inkling up.

Callie pouted as she muttered. “Meanie.” Clearing her throat, she leaned back in her chair and adopted a more serious look. Well, as serious as Callie could manage at the moment. “Seriously though, I know your previous opinions of her weren't exactly the best. But look! She turned out to be pretty dependable after all! I told you she was an okay inkling!”

“I know.”

Callie continued on having not heard her. “And she's the only other member of the Splatoon besides us and Gramps! Which means we have to be friends, right? And I know friends aren't much of a 'you' thing—“ Marie frowned “— but we have to at least try with Three!”

Marie sighed, rubbing her temple in slight frustration. “I'm going to ignore that small dig for your own sake.” The other squid smiled sheepishly. “Anyways, who do you take me for? I know that Three is pretty much going to become a constant in our life now; unless she's like Gramps,” she whispered that last part under her breath. “So believe me when I say that I'm not going to go out of my way to cause arguments. Besides, like you said, she's already proven to be trustworthy.”

Callie smiled— a smile too big and that just straight up conveyed the fact that she wanted to make fun of her cousin for showing, _ugh_ , _emotions._ Marie would end her if she tried something here in the studio though, and she knew that Callie knew that too.

Which is why Callie just lifted her arms in a temporary truce, that damned smile remaining in place. “Yeah I figured. Just making sure.” She stood up, telling her that she would just go to quickly grab her script, leaving Marie behind to slump in her chair with nothing important to do until Three came for them. She usually went over their lines at night since it took her forever to fall asleep anyways. Which meant she didn't have much to do right now.

Taking her phone out, she raised it above her face— ignoring Callie's 'don't drop it' warning as she sat back down— and scrolled through her feed in hopes of finding some interesting news. Anything to bring up as a new topic of conversation. There wasn't much going on though. Inkopolis was generally a calm city; sans the missing zapfish and the octarians, but no one else knew about the latter. The only headline that briefly caught her eye was some article about a local cryptid hanging around Mount Nantai.

Weird.

Marie made a mental note to check the area whenever she had the chance, might be someone stirring up trouble. She could easily convince Callie to go there for a camping trip. The details about the 'monster' itself would need to be kept secret though or else she wouldn't be able to get her to go even by dragging her there.

Camping sucked, but a trip away from all this might be nice.

Finding nothing else of importance, she laid her phone face down on the table before checking up on her cousin. Callie was once again drumming her fingers against the edge of the table as she mouthed along to the words on the paper.

Satisfied that reading would keep her occupied until they headed home, she turned back to the large window to greet any inklings that might be hanging around. A quad of excited inklings were standing there waving excitedly as they tried to grab her attention. Giving them her signature grin, she lifted her hand in a lazy wave just as a flash of orange caught her eye.

There right behind them stood Three, lightly swinging a bag of groceries as she fiddled with her phone.

“I think you've got a message. Also the radio is going off, so I'm gonna take this real quick.” Callie had yet to notice the agent in front of them, taking the old radio with her into the backroom to figure out what their grandfather wanted.

Marie watched as the other inklings said something to Three before waving goodbye at her and running off. Three nodded at their retreating backs before turning to look at her through the glass. Giving her a soft smile, she pointed a finger down to the abandoned phone beside her.

She brought the phone up near her face, a single message greeting her.

Unknown: _Hey, sorry to bug ya, but Cap'n wants us all at the base._

Marie turned back to Three, watching her raise up the bag and dangle it in front of her and then to the side, gesturing towards the hidden grate.

Ah.

Pushing her chair back and standing up, she moved to get Callie just as she burst out of the backroom and ran straight to the glass, pressing her palms against it as she beamed at the agent.

“You're here!”

Three took a step back, startled, and Marie noticed the surrounding inklings giving the three of them curious stares. Callie would cause a scene at this rate. Motioning for Three to move away— who either thankfully got the message or was becoming unnerved by the stares— she latched onto the back of Callie's shirt collar, gently pulling her back.

“Disguises first. Then we can meet up with Three.”

Callie opened her mouth to argue but thought better of it and instead ran back into their shared space to put on her civilian clothing. Marie waved away the inklings crowding around before sending a quick text to their manager with a made up excuse to explain their absence.

Stepping out of the studio, she saw Callie bouncing excitedly whilst basically shaking Three around. The orange inkling kept a firm grip around the bag in her hand as she was being manhandled.

Sighing, she yanked on Three's hood, forcing the two of them to follow her towards the entrance to Octo Valley. “C'mon, Gramps is waiting,” she reminded them in a dry voice.

Callie continued to ramble on to Three as they were both pulled along, the younger inkling held a slightly confused expression as she tried to catch onto everything Callie spit out, but it was clear she was trying her best to retain the information; repeating what was said and asking questions of her own when needed.

Marie hid her small smile as they slipped through the grates. Anyone who made an effort to actually listen to Callie was automatically a great squid in her book.

Maybe she would put in more than minimum effort to get to know their hero.

* * *

Three had initially intended to visit the captain the day after the whole battle against Octavio happened but then she woke up incredibly sore and exhausted and the only thing she managed to do after dragging herself off the roof was to go get cleaned up and grab a quick bite.

Even with their ability to heal up incredibly quick after an injury, one that required stitches would clearly take more time than she anticipated. Usually inklings didn't get this banged up, and on the few occasions that they did, it was often during a match and getting splatted would immediately make it as if the injury itself had never happened

She hadn't had that option during her fight though, so she had been forced to wait another day after that to recover as best as she could.

It had been fine. She'd spent the majority of the time observing the inklings below her go about their daily routines, all completely unaware of what had happened days prior.

More than once she had found herself watching the news too. She had no interest in knowing the stages in rotation but there was something calming about seeing the other two agents move around on the screen. Three had even entertained the thought of actually going up to the studio itself to wave at them but chickened out before she could.

She would see them soon enough anyways.

When she finally went to see Cap'n Cuttlefish, he was immediately on her case. Asking if she'd been resting well and whether she was keeping up with her meals. It had all felt so… _normal._

After assuring him that she'd been fine and making sure he was as well, he had pretty much immediately sent her back into the plaza, muttering something about getting things ready for a proper get together the following day. Before being shoved down the kettle, she had him promise to let her make them a meal of her own. No offense to him, but his meals weren't the best. Or very varied for that matter.

Likely due to his past as a soldier.

Regardless, that's how Three found herself spending the entire morning at the shack preparing a multitude of small dishes for everyone. She hoped neither of the sisters have any allergies because Cap'n Cuttlefish hadn't been much help when she'd asked him. Only spouting something about how they should be able to handle any food that was offered to them and to not be such picky eaters.

Three held a deep sense of respect towards him, she really did, but there were some things she would never even begin to understand about his way of thinking.

After that was mostly done, she had gone off to pick up the remaining two agents, but not before dropping by the store for some last minute snacks and drinks. Hopefully the two wouldn't be too bored while they waited for her.

The way Callie had immediately thrown herself onto her though, had her doubting that. Still, it was nice in a way, having someone so eager to see her.

Yeah, it was nice. New but nice.

* * *

As soon as they arrived at the shack, Three set to work on making sure the food was ready while Callie stuck to her like a remora to a shark, asking her a barrage of questions that she tried to answer as they came.

“How have you been? How's the side? You can cook? Are you gonna stay in the Splatoon? Are you finally down to do some turf wars with us?”

Three stirred the contents of the pot as she repeated the questions in her head. “Um, good. Fine. I guess. And— _whoa!_ Don't touch that! It's hot!— uh, probably?” She batted Callie's hand away and shrugged. “Depends on whether Cap'n Cuttlefish has anything left he wants me to do.”

Marie sat on a blanket on the floor beside them, and Three knew by her look alone that she was aware of the fact that she didn't answer Callie's last question. She kept quiet though, and Three was thankful.

“Of course he does!” Callie assured her. “There's still lots of recon to do! Plus you already made a blood pact to never leave,” she joked, waggling her fingers in front of Three's face as she laughed.

Three smiled at her, setting the ladle down and moving to sit beside Marie, keeping a slight distance.

“That bit must've slipped my mind. Was that before or after signing the contract?” She asked, going along with the joke, hugging her knees to her chest.

Callie plopped down between them in her squid form before shifting back. “C'mon Three! Don't you remember? It was obviously before!” She tutted at the younger squid. “I can't believe you. There were even candles and offerings!”

“That sounds more like a summoning!” Three laughed. “Seriously though, does Cap'n actually need the help? I know you two are busy, but won't there be less to do around here? I'd much rather not be intruding in your space.”

“It's fine, you won't,” Marie mumbled. “S'not like Cal and I spend too much time here if we can help it anyways.” She threw her head back to look at the shack. “Ugh. When's Gramps coming out?”

“Oh! He said he was looking for his old ca—“ the door swung open “— aaaaaand there he is.” Callie slowly lowered the finger she had in the air. “Hey Gramps!”

“Hey Gramps.” Marie echoed.

Three nodded up at him. “Cap'n.”

Cap'n Cuttlefish moved in front of them, tilting his head slightly as he regarded them, one hand hidden behind his back. “Agents.”

Marie snorted and leaned forward, placing her hands on her open palms. “You can drop the 'agents' bit, Gramps. There's not much in terms of anyone finding out now.”

“Except for grumps over there.” Callie reminded them, pointing a thumb towards the pissed off octarian. “Not that he's gonna go around spilling our secrets anytime soon. Anyways Gramps, what's the big game plan you mentioned?”

“Hold on now. First things first. Three?”

Three straightened up as the captain addressed her. “Yes Cap'n?”

“As the captain of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, and on behalf of all of Inkopolis, I offer you my sincerest thank you for the services you've provided to our group and cause. Now unfortunately we can't very well go around telling everyone of the events which occurred nights prior.”

Three nodded in understanding. It made sense and she hadn't come into this expecting anything of the sort to begin with. Besides the more hidden she managed to stay, the better.

“Now, while I can't exactly organize some grand event for you, I would like you to take this.” He brought his arm forward, revealing the object he had been hiding. “I know it may not seem like much to you kids, but I think you deserve it.”

Three stared wide-eyed at the cap being offered to her. Cap'n Cuttlefish was right. To most younger inklings it probably wouldn't seem more than an old hand-me-down, but she knew better.

She held her hands up in front of her and shook her head in disbelief. “Sorry Cap'n but I can't take this. I'm nothing like the soldiers of the past.”

The captain gave her a curious look, “You seem to know perfectly well what this is. I must say, I'm surprised, most squids older than you don't even recognize the significance of this.” He turned to the other two who were watching the scene with interest. “You girls are the ones who could learn something from Three rather than the other way around. She actually bothered learning about all the heroes of old!”

“Ah… not by choice…” Three muttered under her breath. She caught the tips of Marie's ears twitch and knew that she had heard. Did nothing get past her? Clearing her throat she continued loud enough for the other two to hear. “It's because of what I learned that I believe it would be insulting to them for me to take it as things are. I'm no leader, Cap'n. Besides, this one must be yours!”

She was almost afraid that he would try to argue with her but he thankfully relented.

“Well, you may not be at the moment but I believe you'll make a fine leader some day! With some guidance from myself of course!” He playfully nudged her and Three laughed despite herself. “And you don't have to worry, my own is the one I always wear. This is an abandoned one, but just as genuine!” Cap'n Cuttlefish assured her. “But I understand. I won't push you but I do believe you'll find yourself worthy of it someday.”

Three rubbed the back of her neck. She didn't believe the same but it couldn't hurt to humor him at least. “If you say so Cap'n.”

“Well, now that that's out of the way. Shall we talk about how we're doing things going forward?”

Right. They still had to deal with the remaining octarians.

“Whatever you need me to do, I'm ready Cap'n.”

“Us too, Gramps!” Callie exclaimed.

The old inkling rested both hands on his cane, leaning forward a bit as he spoke. “I'll be having you three running recon around all the old kettles. All you have to do is ensure they are not planning anything big, like say trying to rescue their leader. And this is also why I'm giving you new orders.” He turned away from Three and towards his granddaughters. “You are to engage with the enemy only when provoked into doing so. Otherwise you should only attempt to sneak around to the best of your abilities.”

Three wasn't a fool. She knew that the new rule had been made for her sake. He was smart enough to realize that she didn't want to hurt the octarians, even if he didn't know _why_ exactly.

As expected though, Marie tried to argue. “Gramps, you do realize that will just make our work harder. Callie especially isn't made for stealth missions.”

Three glanced at Callie, expecting her to argue. Instead she shrugged good-naturedly. It was true, after all. Using rollers meant dealing with obstacles in a more head-on method.

“Well, take this as some more involved training then,” he reasoned. “It would do you both well to learn new techniques out there. Especially now that the threat isn't as serious.”

“...sure.” Marie crossed her arms. At the end of the day he was still their leader, so she would do as he said. For now. “So I'm guessing Cal and me pair up while Three goes solo?”

Both Callie and Three nodded at that. It made the most sense. Callie and Marie knew how to work together as well as Three knew how to do things on her own.

But Cap'n Cuttlefish had other plans.

“Not exactly.” They all looked at him in confusion. “You're all a team now. That means you all need to know how to fight alongside one another.” He took out a small paper from somewhere amongst his clothes— if one could even call them that. “Recon starts next week. Callie and Three will take the first few days out in the field, I'm sure you'll both work together marvelously! Best not to pair you with Marie so soon, Three.”

Marie looked torn between defending herself and begrudgingly accepting the attack.

“Whatever.” She opted for instead. “Wait? What am I supposed to do then? Sure I'm happy that I don't have to do work, but I didn't expect you to give me time off so soon either.”

Cap'n Cuttlefish chuckled as he handed Callie the torn paper. “You're not getting off the hook so easily missy. I'm afraid I must leave on some business of my own for a while which means Callie here is going to be in charge in my absence.” Three smiled in amusement as Callie fist bumped the air, paper balled up in her hand. “But whenever her and Three are out, you will be monitoring them from here in the base.”

Marie nodded slowly, raising a hand to her chin. “So making sure they don't get into trouble? I can do that, yeah.”

“Good! I trust you to keep them safe! Of course when you have to go out with either of them, the one staying behind is in control of the radio and maps. Think of it as a trust exercise between you all!”

The three of them agreed, impressed with his solid plan. Cap'n Cuttlefish had clearly put in more thought into this than any of his previous methods. Which had basically been just handing a few kids some weapons and hoping they would learn as they went along.

There was just one thing Three was wondering about.

“Cap'n, does this mean you're going off on your own. Is that safe?” She turned to the other two agents, who both made a 'meh' motion with their hands.

He patted her roughly on the back. Man, were all of the Cuttlefish born with the ability to manhandle everyone? “Of course it's safe! I've been doing this kind of thing for almost a hundred years. And I'm nowhere near the age to stop now!”

“...”

Most inklings his age just lazed around, but Three didn't bother mentioning that. The captain seemed to be an entire different species altogether. Octavio too now that she thought about it.

Speaking of…

“How are we dealing with grumps then? Or is it a 'whoever stays behind keeps an eye on him' kinda deal?” The DJ was actually seething within a snow globe a few feet away. He seemed adamant to not look in their direction.

“There's no way for ol' Octavio to escape from that snow globe of his! Just make sure you give him his meals and he'll be fine!”

Three clasped her hands together and raised them to her mouth which was set in a thin line. There was no way this part of his plan would go smoothly. How was he expecting a _snow globe_ of all things to keep him at bay. “… right.”

“Well! That's about all we needed to discuss for the moment!” He waved his cane in the air. “It's time we all got a taste of the delicious food Three made for us!”

“You haven't even tried it yet, Cap'n.”

Callie latched onto her arm and dramatically leaned into her side. “Believe me Three. Anything you make is leagues better than what any of us could. I tell ya, Cuttlefishes just aren't made to cook!”

“Except for Unk.” Marie laughed as she walked past them and into the shack. “But maybe that's because he learned to cook before he became a Cuttlefish. Lucky for your dad and us, otherwise we would've starved!”

“Yeah! Pop's food is great! You should try some if you ever meet him Three!”

“Sure.”

Truth be told Three was only half listening to the two as they entered the shack and started passing around bowls of food.

She was already thinking about how the next week might play out in her mind. Working with Callie shouldn't be too hard and she trusted her to follow the rule the captain set down. It was Marie she was worried about getting along with. Sure the younger of the two cousins had been helpful thus far but that didn't mean they would be able to work with one another.

Still, she figured that as long as they kept things civil and professional, nothing too bad would happen.

* * *

“So you guys just go by whatever this machine— which by no means should even be _working_ at this point— spits out and just... roll with it?

Marie and Callie exchanged a look as the orange inkling glanced between them in disbelief. It was weird when they actually took the time to think about. Which is precisely why they didn't.

“Yeeeeaaaahh...” Callie drawled, setting her bowl aside. “But look! Whether it comes from some higher being or whatever else you think it might be, all it's given us are silly prompts for Splatfests! It can't be that bad!”

Marie let out a laugh under her breath. “What is with you and trying to reason the good in every situation?” She stretched her arms out behind her, leaning back on them. “Maybe Three's got a point. You never know, we might just be a part of that old thing's mass experiment,” she whispered conspiratorially.

She didn't actually believe it but it served to get a rise out of her cousin.

“Haha! Always the jokester aren't you Mar!” She nervously giggled, flapping her arms out in front of her. “Anyways!” Marie watched in amusement as Callie changed the subject. “Today has been a blast, but we should probably start heading home now! I know you're probably too old for bedtimes, but we've got work early tomorrow soooo...”

Three stood up, taking their dishes as she did. “Yeah no, don't worry! I should head back too. Don't want to be out once it gets too dark.”

“Don't want to make your parents worry?” Marie asked.

“… something like that.”

Marie raised an eyebrow. The younger agent didn't sound too convincing, but she avoided her gaze as she ducked back into the shack to deposit the dirty dishes and say her goodbyes to Cap'n Cuttlefish.

Instead of worrying about it, she turned to her cousin. “We need to stop by for our scripts Cal.” Marie reminded her.

“Oh yeah!” Callie whirled around to face Three as she stepped back outside. “Walk with us?”

Three was about to decline when Callie brought out her secret weapon. Puppy eyes.

She tried to tear her gaze away but Callie was laying it on thick this time. Marie held an exasperated expression as she looked upon the all too familiar scene. Although this was from an outsider's perspective for once.

“Uh…sure. Why not?”

Callie scooped her up and whooped as she twirled them around. “Yay! More bonding time!”

Three squirmed as the arms around her held her tight. “One! Can't breath!” she gasped.

Callie froze in place at that. Bringing her back down, she gave her a stern look. “Sorry! Forgot about your side! Also, nuh-uh! None of that 'One' and 'Two' stuff! Call me Callie! 'Cal' if you wanna be more casual about it.” She pointed towards her cousin. “And that's Marie! Y'know, just in case you didn't know.”

“Believe me, I know. I see you both announcing the news everyday.”

Marie crossed her arms and moved to stand beside Callie. “That so?”

“What do you think of our songs?!” Callie asked enthusiastically. “Wait! Tell us as we walk to the studio.”

Marie led the way, shouting a quick farewell to their Gramps who waved as they left, and kicking Octavio's globe as they walked past.

Three shoved her hands into the pockets of her shorts. “I've really only heard the Inkantation and that new song you guys sang that same night. Don't think I've come across any of your stuff apart from that.” Callie let out an appalled gasp, and Three rushed to amend her answer. “It's not that I don't want to! I just haven't been able to listen to much music since I came to Inkopolis!”

Marie tilted her head as she glanced back at them. “Really? Is music not a thing wherever you're from?”

“Ah… not really no.” Three scuffed her shoe against the metal grate.

Callie hopped in front of them, shifting into her squid form and disappearing into it. Marie and Three both followed right behind her.

They emerged practically next to the studio. Marie motioning for them to enter through the back door so as to not get caught in a mob of excited inklings.

Three glanced around the small but spacious back room. The familiar clothes that the Squid Sisters usually adorned were hanging to the side. Two identical chairs sat next to each other, matching their respective colors. A mess of scattered cans and snacks were strewn around the room, which they could thank Callie for.

Marie opened the door into the actual studio itself. “Stay here. We don't need anyone asking why some random inkling is hanging around the inside of the building.” Slipping through the open crack, she closed the door behind her, shielding the two from any prying eyes.

* * *

Callie leaned against the back of what she assumed to be Marie's chair, if the green border is anything to go off of. “Say, where _are_ you from Three?”

“Coral County. Not exactly the most interesting place.”

The pink squid's eyes lit up at her response. “That's right next to Calamari County! Maybe we've run into each other before!” She scrunched her face up in thought. “From what I remember though, place was full of snobs. Lots of families who wanted to 'preserve' their history blah blah blah, something or other. Marie and me thought it was all pretty dumb,” she shrugged.

And well… she wasn't wrong. But also, 'dumb' couldn't even begin to cover just what was wrong with that place. With everything and everyone she had to deal with.

Safe. You're safe, she thought to herself.

“Yeah…” Three shifted uncomfortably in place, hands searching for something to grab onto but also not wanting to disturb their space. She settled for pulling on the end of her shirt. “Can we… can we talk about something else?”

Callie caught on to her body language and was quick to change the subject, much to her relief. “Wanna hear some of our stuff?”

Now that was something she could work with. She leaned towards Callie as she rummaged around one of the drawers in her desk. “Sure.”

An old music player was promptly shoved into her hands along with an extra set of earbuds. “Here! This has all of the songs we've released so far! There's even a few scrapped projects that we never got the chance to develop properly.” She waggled her eyebrows at her. “Lucky you. No squid other than us has ever heard any of them. Keep the player too! That used to be mine, but I keep everything on my phone now.”

“Are you sure? I can give it a quick listen and hand it back before I leave.” Three didn't want to take something so valuable. “I don't even know if I should really listen to this. It kinda doesn’t seem fair to everyone else.”

“Well everyone else can't say they saved the city. Think of it as agent perks! Like Marie said: you gotta deal with us now. Don't worry, we'll probably bug you to listen to anything we're working on to make sure squids your age are into it!” She held onto her shoulders and shook her gently. “And yeah! Keep the old thing. This way if we ever lose our files we'll know you have our backup.” Callie giggled. “You basically are our backup now!”

Three averted her gaze as Callie's beaming smile hit her full force. “So I'm guessing you'll want me to bring this around whenever you make something new then?”

Callie brought a finger to her mouth as Marie entered the room. “We'll figure it out with time. But probably, yeah!”

“Probably what?” Marie handed her cousin her script. “By the way, our manager mentioned that the Splatfest theme will be given to us tomorrow.”

“From the creepy machine?” Three asked.

“From the creepy machine.” The older squid confirmed with a sly smile.

“Rad.”

Callie huffed at them. “Stop with the creepy conspiracy theories already. They're weird!”

“Well yeah, that's what makes it fun,” Marie teased. “Ooooo… what if there's an entire _other_ species or civilization we aren't aware of? Maybe they're the ones pulling the strings!”

Three found the glare that Callie sent out towards her cousin impressive. As was the cool stare the green inkling returned. Certainly something to learn from them both in the future, given the chance.

For now though, she found herself interjecting into their staring competition. “I really should head out now.” She moved to thank Callie for the music player but Marie cut her off before she could.

“Wait.” She walked up to her and motioned towards her clothes. “Shirt. Off.”

Three raised an eyebrow before remembering what was underneath her clothes. Right, she had been meaning to ask her to take a look at it anyways. Slipping her sweater off, she lifted the fabric of her shirt just enough to see the healing injury.

Marie ran her hand across her skin inspecting it to make sure it was alright, finger dipping into the scar that was forming. “It's definitely gonna be a visible scar. Sorry, there wasn't much I could do since it literally cut through your gills.”

Again, it was to be expected. Luckily for her, inklings had long since evolved past the need for their gills so there wasn't anything to worry about health wise if they became injured. They were really only good for three things. Keeping them cool during the summer heat. Providing some light if they kept them uncovered. And being a clear tell as to when their health as a whole—both physical and mental— was low, which speaking of…

“When I was stitching you up I had assumed it was just the poor lighting or the fact that I was too tired to tell properly, but you're honestly looking a bit pale around the gills. And they're definitely glowing as much as they should be.” She lifted her own shirt up just enough to show her own.

There was definitely no question about it when you compared the two.

Three hastily pulled her shirt back down, snatching her sweater off the chair.

“Look, I know we're still starting off a bit of a rocky relationship,” Marie started, “but if there's anything you need—“

“I don't.” Three replied with ice in her tone, surprising even herself, but she didn't let it show. Marie's face filled with slight disbelief before morphing back into her normal emotionless expression.

Callie bit her lip as she moved beside her cousin. Silently reaching out for her hand which she took.

“Well, offer's always there,” she says before busying herself with stuffing her things into her bag.

Three immediately felt bad, but she needed to leave before she showed any more vulnerability in front of them. “Thank you for the company and gift today.” She bowed before realizing what she was doing, straightening up to look at Callie's confused but warm smile.

“Anytime! See each other next week?”

“Yeah,” Three answered, mouth going dry.

She nodded at them politely, and found herself rushing out of the room, which felt like it had been growing ever smaller with every passing moment.

Stupid! Stupid squid, she thought as she jogged across the street and ducked into the alleyway, leaning back against the brick wall. Look at her. Here she was failing at simple interactions yet again. Sure there weren't any consequences this time around, but she almost wished there were. Anything to give her some sense of normality.

She hugged her sweater tightly against her chest. No, she couldn't afford to think that way. The whole point of running away was to leave everything behind.

Here she could start over. Learn to make _actual_ relationships with people who felt the same way. And if she could just learn how to behave correctly and control herself, the two squids she had left just now would maybe, probably be a constant in her life.

Burying her face into her sweater, she took deep breaths to calm herself down. Right. She would apologize to them when she saw them next. It would take time, but she wanted to do things properly. Callie at the very least seemed easy to talk to, and Marie had shown she cared too. All that was left really, was for her to put that same effort forth.

She exhaled shakily. She could do this. Would do this!

Slowly, she slid down against the wall and sat there on the dirt looking up at the sky. Small steps, she decided. Apologize first, then she would figure out where to go from there.

Well, the actual first thing she needed to do was climb back up the roof to sleep. She leaned her head back, not minding the small thud her head made against the wall.

That could wait a few minutes too.

* * *

Marina grit her beak as another loud shriek—did that even count as a screech? It wasn't a howl nor a shout— filled the air. She wished for whatever creature that was to give it a rest already. This was the third night in a row that blasted thing had kept her from sleeping.

Which is why she found herself climbing around the mountain—because _of course_ it had to be so far away— trying to see if she could find it and silence it. Maybe with a friendly kick to the face.

She grumbled as she pushed aside a branch. The lack of sleep certainly wasn't helping in keeping her cool.

It had already been a few days since she had escaped, and she hadn't run into any other octolings. Whether that was a curse or a blessing remained to be seen. Probably the latter though, since that meant she likely didn't need to worry about being dragged back into the domes.

She sighed, resting against the trunk of a tree for a moment as she caught her breath. Raising the book in her hands, she cracked it open and leaned to the side letting the light emanating from the moon shine on the pages just enough to make out the words.

Marina mouthed the phrase at the top of the page, first in Octanese and then in Inklish, hoping she got the pronunciation as close as she possibly could. She'd only gotten through a small portion of the book, both because it was thick and she wanted to make sure she got the words down right.

Not that she could tell without someone fluent in the language guiding her, but she made do.

Moving her finger down across the paper towards the next phrase, she slammed it shut as the shrieking started up again. Except that this time it sounded way too close for her liking.

Like right behind her close.

Steeling herself, she crouched down low and moved the branches shielding her vision aside. Moving forward in slow movements trying not to scare off the creature before she could give it a piece of her mind. And fist.

She cursed to herself as she heard a crack beneath her boots, the loud noise stopping along with it.

Marina stilled as everything went almost eerily quiet, her hearts in her mouth as she waited with a baited breath.

The sound of footsteps creeping closer to her hiding spot echoed in her ears, followed by a garbled string of words in an almost questioning tone.

She didn't bother trying to figure out what they meant though. Instead leaping out and smashing the side of the book into the creature's face.

A cry of pain left their mouth and Marina raised her left hand to scratch at them with her claws if they got close to her.

She halted her movements as she caught sight of what- or rather _who_ \- she had hit.

A wide-eyed inkling stared at her in shock, arms raised up in a pathetic attempt of self defense- Marina could easily figure out fifteen different ways to take them down off the top of her head. Their left cheek was beginning to bruise but underneath that the spots on her face were glowing beautifully in the night. Actually her tentacles and shoulders were glowing too.

It probably had to do with whatever species of inkling she was.

"What the hell?! Do you hit every hiker that comes up here?" the inkling asked, outraged.

Marina lowered her arm as she processed the words, before slowly shaking her head. What was the word she was looking for?

"Loud," she tried, hoping that was it.

The inkling stared at her for a moment before her freckles lit up brighter. "Oh…" She rubbed her arm and glanced away. "Crud, that's my bad. I probably scared you with my screaming, huh?"

It took her a moment but Marina nodded. "It was… scary… and loud. Maybe try <carajo, cuál era esa palabra> umm...quieter?"

They gave her a puzzled look. "You're not from around here, like at all, are ya?" They tapped their foot against the ground. "Doesn't matter. Sorry about that. I'm actually just about to leave so you don't have to worry about it. Where's your campsite? The least I could do is escort you back."

That was… a lot of words Marina could barely grasp, but she managed.

All she offered was a shake of her head.

"You don't have a tent or something?" Another shake. "Food or water?" Again. "Anything but that book you're holding?"

Marina paused. Tilted her head. A shake.

The inkling groaned in frustration. Muttering to themselves as they paced around.

They stopped in their tracks, casting a glance towards her before unbuckling the bag on their back. They rummaged through their things before taking out a single water bottle.

They placed it beside them before holding the bag out towards her.

"Here. It's got enough stuff to last you a while and there's even some money in there… _somewhere_. There's a camping ground over that way," they pointed towards the side, "It's got plenty of necessities ya might need. Don't worry about me by the way, I've got someone picking me up in an hour anyways. This camping trip took longer than I'd planned."

Marina reluctantly took the offered bag. She felt really bad about hitting the inkling in the face now. They were being so nice, maybe even too nice.

"So, uh, yeah! That's it, I guess. Don't stay up here too long. And um… enjoy your camping trip!" They shuffled awkwardly past her before sprinting away before she could stop them.

That was odd. Sweet too, she supposed.

Were these the inklings they had come to fear and hate. She had almost expected Agent 3 to be the exception, granted her experience with them was different from some of the others' accounts, but it seemed she was wrong.

Shuffling the bag in her hands, she opened it just enough to slip her book in and noticed something sticking out. Curious she lifted it out and gazed in wonder at what was clearly some old music equipment. She'd seen Ahato use something similar in the past.

Music had always been a secret passion of hers. Maybe she could use it to make something of her own? It couldn't be that hard, right?

That would be a goal for future Marina though. If she understood the inkling correctly, there would be somewhere safe to set up camp for the night up ahead.

Turns out finding the creature of Mount Nantai made her very tired. Strapping the bag securely onto her back, she made her way further down the mountain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who read 'a soldier, a child, a friend' I'm still not sure if everything there is gonna line up with the events in this story, but at the very least most of Three and Marina's first interactions do. Anyways, thank you so much for reading and hope you enjoyed :0


	4. pushing me, pushing you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where shooting practice turns to a heart-to-heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Managed to get this out before the month ended! Hope y'all enjoy and there's even a lil extra for y'all at the end ;]

The glasses in her hands felt heavy, even more so than the goggles did. Not because of the weight itself but because they seemed... _dangerous_ in a way. July had assured her that they were no different from their previous eyewear, sliding them on and off his face with a wink in her direction.

Still, she didn't plan to wear them unless she absolutely had too. The headaches that came with these were much stronger than the ones that she had with the goggles.

Sighing, August hung the glasses onto the collar of her shirt before rounding the corner and slipping into the familiar room. Clicking the door shut behind her, she nodded in greeting towards the two other occupants in the room.

July immediately sprung from his chair and leapt at her, engulfing her in one of his bear hugs. August stumbled back as she caught her balance, keeping them both from falling onto the dirty floor.

Laughing, she patted his back roughly. “C'mon you big baby. We just saw each other two hours ago!”

“That's two hours too many!” July said, pulling back from the hug and offering an innocent smile as he skipped back over to his seat.

She shook her head and turned to the other octoling in the room who was watching them from atop a desk with a fond expression on her face.

“Atlas.”

“Goose.”

August wrinkled her nose in fake disgust. “You just had to call me that one last time before you leave, huh?”

Atlas broke out in laughter, doubling over as she grabbed the edge of the table to steady herself. Jules giggled from his place beside them, the traitor.

“You know it sunshine!” Atlas gasped out between her laughs. August walked up to her and grinned as the other's face leaned towards her own, butting foreheads “Bet you'll miss me once I'm gone.”

“Of course I will,” August said. “What I _won't_ miss are your dumb nicknames.” She emphasized her point by flicking Atlas' nose causing her to rear back as she cupped a hand over it.

“Cheeky.”

“You know it!” August held a hand out expectantly. “Your bag.”

Atlas groaned but pushed herself off the desk and walked behind it. She leaned down to grab a worn looking bag and chucked it at August's face, quick reflexes catching it midair. Heaving herself back over to her original place, she looked over August's shoulder as she rifled through her things.

“How'd the talk with the big boss go?” August asked.

Atlas shrugged and leaned back; palms pressed flush against the surface of the desk. “About as bad as I expected honestly.”

“Oh?” July scooted closer to them, chair and all.

August looked at her in interest as well. Their immediate boss— just one of the many that worked under Octavio's orders— had been nothing but impossible to please since she had been sent to work with them. And it was only because she hated their old boss, Cobija. The two had a bit of a rivalry from their younger days and it had led to her treating them like trash.

They really missed their old leader, nagging and all.

Cobija hadn't always been the easiest to talk to. Not that the older octoling was rude to them or anything of the sort! They were simply set on treating them as the soldiers that they were, giving them tough love as they needed it.

They were the only higher up that the three of them actually held any respect for. Besides Marina, but she was in an entire other division, so they hadn't spent as much time with her. Cobija was mainly involved in the science department nowadays, but they still made sure to train them when they had the time to do so.

Or they _used to_ _._ Up until they had been sent to another location a few years back to further their research.

“Yeah! She told me that she had no clue why they would ever make _me_ and elite. But that she hoped that since the whole”— she waved an arm in the air—“Agent 3 fiasco, they'd finally make use out of me or some crap. You know how she is. The team and I are just going to go help out one of our leader's partners. Or something like that, they weren't really clear about it.”

August furrowed her brow and placed a hand on Atlas' knee. They all hated calling Octavio their leader, but Atlas in particular always insisted on using it to keep from using the other name she could use for him, also to keep anyone from suspecting their plan. Which speaking of…

“As sketchy as this job is, you do remember what your main goal is, right?”

Atlas gave her a small reassuring smile. “Of course.” Her expression fell slightly as she looked at July. “Honestly I had expected the two of you to be long gone at this point. So many of the others managed to escape during that fight.”

July grimaced— a rare sight. “And so many others were captured and punished.” He shook his head and grinned. “And I would have! But I couldn't leave this one behind! Especially when she thought she could take on Agent 3 herself!” He motioned towards August and her ears drooped slightly.

“Jules,” she hissed.

“What?” Atlas asked, slight anger in her tone. She reached out and grabbed her by the chin, tilting her head slightly and running a finger gently against her lip. “Is that where this is from?”

August nodded.

“What were you _thinking_ doing something so reckless?!”

August groaned. “Not this again.” She shot July an annoyed glance. “Look, long story short: I thought she would be our best chance at getting out without getting caught. A miscalculation on my part, clearly.”

“Both our parts,” July spoke up. “I know I'm giving her a hard time about it, but I thought the same for a moment. And I hadn't mentioned this to Auggie earlier but… maybe Marina thought so too.”

Atlas let go of her face and they both turned their full attention towards him.

“Spill,” Atlas said.

“Well, right before she handed me the USB— “

“Which we still haven't been able to look through”

“Yeah that one!” July gave Atlas a dorky thumbs up, making her smile despite her previous anger. “She was muttering something about wishing Agent 3 luck. Which any _normal_ octarian soldier wouldn't do.”

“Unless you're us,” August muttered.

“Right-o!” he laughed. “Are you two gonna keep interrupting me? Look, I love the synergy you two have always got going on but maybe later?”

August shared a look with Atlas, and they shook their heads.

“Cool!” July said, taking their motions as them agreeing to keep quiet. “Anyways, it wasn't just that. After the battle—once everyone was booking it— when Agent 3 was knocked down, it almost seemed like she wanted to help them. They even had this sort of staring contest going on. Although maybe I saw wrong since I was pretty far away.”

He gave them both a serious look. “But I'm almost certain I didn't.”

“...what makes you say that?” Atlas asked him.

“There's something different about that agent . I mean—“ he turned towards August “—we both heard her!”

August noticed with confusion as Atlas stiffened when she hear that.

“We did,” she confirmed slowly. “But that has nothing to do with whatever Marina and her had going on, if there was anything they planned to begin with.”

Atlas huffed. “There's no way that nerd and dumb squid planned anything together. Ida just managed to get lucky. Unlike _you_. Heck, Agent 3 doesn't even seem to think before doing anything!”

August raised an eyebrow. Something there was… off.

“And how would you know whether or not the agent is dumb and makes foolish mistakes? It almost sounds like you've talked to her as well.”

Atlas shrugged, looking _too_ disinterested to be real. “As if. I wouldn't talk to that wretched inkling if I could help it. I'd just splat her on sight.

August deflated slightly as Atlas pointedly avoided making eye contact with her. They were friends, practically sisters, why didn't she want to tell her?

She wanted to demand to know the reason for keeping quiet, not even to know _what_ she was keeping a secret. But… she was leaving. And with the way things worked here in the underground, that could very well mean never seeing each other again.

Sighing she uncrossed her arms and walked up beside her, pressing her entire body against Atlas.

“Sooooo… that new uniform looks pretty clean,” she said with a sly smile. “I can already imagine all the ladies running to you.”

“Wha—?” Atlas looked at her in confusion before realizing what she was doing. “Oh!” she puffed her chest and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. “Yeah! I'll finally be able to impress them all and get myself a girlfriend!”

“Right...” August said with an exasperated expression.

July laughed, tilting his chair slightly forwards. “There are plenty of girls who are gonna end up with broken hearts here! One of the octolings who joined you for patrols the other day asked me if you were available.”

August sent him a disapproving look as he failed to say _who_ it had been. He smiled at her, something a tad bittersweet.

“What did you tell them?”

“That you were leaving. What else could I say?” He tilted his head, “Not like you can take her with you. Besides—“ he smirked “—you're an elite now! Means you have a bigger opportunity to escape since you finally earned your seaweed headpieces!”

Atlas laughed, leaning into August's side. “Well now that the old man's gone, there's nothing stopping them from giving me the position. We all know _why_ they waited to give it to me now.” She grinned. “Just makes it easier to snoop around and find a way out.”

“Boy, will they get a nasty surprise when their new elite soldier disappears!” July gripped tightly onto the edges if the chair to keep from falling over as he laughed.

“Well, it's their fault for underestimating us.” August removed herself from Atlas' hug. “Speaking of them, I only dropped by to say goodbye. Captain wants me to help find one of Ida's runaway projects.”

“She left her projects behind?” Atlas asked incredulously.

August shrugged, tilting her head slightly as she stretched out her arms in front of her. “I wouldn't think that she took much time to pack even some of her smaller ones, if she even did at all. Again, it seemed like a spur of the moment decision.”

“Right. Right.”

She moved directly in front of her friend, hesitating for a moment before hugging her as tightly as she could. August ignored the feeling of tears pricking at the edges of her eyes. She wouldn't let them fall, not today— but maybe whenever they reunited in the future.

“Keep safe,” she mumbled into the other's shirt.

A hand gently stoked the tentacles on the back of her head. “I promise you Auggie, we'll see each other again.” She felt herself being pushed away slightly and looked up into Atlas' gaze. “If we're lucky it'll even be on the surface!”

August laughed, “Maybe.” She reluctantly backed away, absentmindedly wiping at her eyes as she did. “Well, I should get going before they come to yell at me. See you later, Atlas.”

“Don't I get a hug before you go?” July huffed, puffing up his cheeks and crossing his arms, making for an adorable sight.

Both girls laughed and August jokingly slapped his tentacle to the side. July hurriedly moved it back in place and stuck out his tongue at her.

“Meanie.”

“Whatever dork.” She gave them both a final wave and stepped out of the room, sighing to herself as she power walked to where the rest of the search group was likely waiting for her.

She would have loved nothing more than for July and her to be able to join Atlas. To find a way for them all to escape together.

But the only way to do that was for them to become elites as well. Or get lucky enough as they did with the distraction during Octavio's battle— even if she had messed things up for July and herself by hesitating with Agent Three.

They _would_ see each other again. She would make sure of it. Whether she had to continue training and convince their generals that she deserved the title or hoping for another opening like back then.

And if it came down to it, she would find a way to make the distraction herself. No matter what it took, they would get out of here.

* * *

Shutting the door behind her, Atlas walked down the hall until she reached her room and slipped in. Groaning, she pressed her back to the wall and slid down.

Agent 3 was so confusing!

She had helped Marina but hurt Auggie?! Even after they way she had acted weeks prior? The scar on Auggie's face would remain there forever. Just thinking about the mark made her blood boil.

It had been a mistake to let her go back then.

She wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Atlas knew that the chances of her returning to her friends were slim— either because they would make her settle down there or, well… there was always the possibility of being permanently splatted. And to be fair, that was the main reason they were sending her so far away in the first place. But she would try, no, she _would_ come back to them! She would do everything in her power to protect them.

And if Agent 3 were to intercept paths with her again: Atlas wouldn't let her run away this time.

* * *

Working with Callie ended up being easier and more fun than Three had expected, much to her surprise. The two had easily adjusted to the other's style of patrolling. Not to mention that she had been following the new rule that Cap'n Cuttlefish had given them.

Marie had been right about one thing though; stealth was _not_ Callie's forte.

The amount of times that the two had been caught and forced to run had reached the double digits by now. And it was only their first week!

Still, Three could tell she was trying her best.

They had even made a game of it, challenging each other to see who could make it to the next kettle first.

Callie had improved significantly after that, figuring out how to jump around in her squid form to avoid the enemy octarians catching sight of her. She would always do a small dance once she reached the kettle that Three couldn't help but laugh and join in too.

For her part, Three had also learned how to use the roller in different manners that she wouldn't have thought of otherwise. Callie had insisted she learn how to use something other than her Hero Shot and suggested she ask Marie to teach her how to use the charger as well whenever they went on patrol too.

They had been practicing hitting all the stray balloons as accurately as they could. Whenever there weren't any octarians nearby, of course.

The one thing that Three was most grateful for though, was the fact that Callie had immediately accepted her apology— she had mentioned that she shouldn't have felt the need to do so in the first place, but that she would accept it for her piece of mind. That was the main reason they had been getting along so well, if Three was being honest.

As it was now, the two had just finished checking up on the final area for the day. They were headed back to base, Callie skipping slightly ahead from her as she whistled to the tune of the Inkantation; Three hummed along to the melody under her breath as well.

They continued until they reached the grate that would take them back, when Callie paused.

Three raised an eyebrow as she waited to hear whatever new idea she had come up with.

“Hey, Three? What do you think about joining Marie and me for a few rounds of turf wars this weekend? If you've got any friends that want to come along, feel free to ask them too!” She put a finger against her lips and winked, leaning in close as she did. “Just make sure to keep our secret.”

Three chuckled and pushed Callie's face away. “I don't really have any friends to ask, so don't worry about that.”

Callie looked at her in surprise. “Really?”

“Well… yeah. Don't you remember that I'm still pretty new to this place? Maybe not new new, but still.” She unlatched the holster on her side where her Hero Shot rested. “Plus, with the whole agent business we've got going on, I haven't really had time to go out and make friends.”

Callie raised the end of her tentacle and gently chewed on it as she thought. Three had quickly come to realize that she only did this when she was either nervous or was trying to find a solution to a problem. In this case it was the latter.

“Well,” Callie started, “that's just something to work on then! I mean, Marie and I are agents too! Plus, we're idols and we still find time to participate in turf!” She dropped her tentacle and pointed proudly at Three. “Join us this weekend and we'll find you friends in no time! Well, I will at least. Marie will probably just stand to the side and brood the whole time.”

Three let out a laugh at that. She could vividly conjure up the image in her mind of a small Marie leaning against a wall with a bored expression, in typical Marie fashion. She briefly wondered if it was weird to know the other's mannerisms this well given the short amount of time they had known each other, but Marie just seemed to act like that to everyone in general.

Her want to help her out last week had been a surprise, but Three supposed she couldn't always be all snark and sarcasm. It gave her a bit of a… _fuzzy_ feeling to have seen that side of her. Which was why she wanted to have a proper talk with her.

And hopefully during their patrol next week she would finally get the chance.

“Thanks for the offer, but maybe some other time,” she said, knowing there wouldn't be an 'other time' if she could help it.

“Your loss then.” Callie shrugged and sent her a mischievous glance, “Last one back is a sea slug?”

Three grinned. “You're on!”

* * *

Marie supposed that Callie was right when she told her she shouldn't have woken up the sleeping agent by poking her side with the end of her charger. But the way Three had shot up from the couch and crashed onto the floor had been just the slightest bit amusing in her opinion. Even if that amusement had been curbed a bit by the brief look of panic on the agent's face.

She reminded her that it was finally their turn to run patrols together and pushed Callie out so that Three could ready herself to head out.

“Weird how Three's always sleeping here by the time we get here,” Callie pointed out.

Marie mulled it over for a bit, inspecting her charger for any last minute issues she might find. Finding none, she twirled it around before dropping the base of it against the dirt, leaning her hands against the nozzle.

“Probably just wanted to make sure she's here on time. Although I'm not sure why if she just ends up falling asleep on that old couch anyways,” she remarked with grin.

Callie shook her head and bumped her hip against her own. “I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but—“

“I know.” Marie's grin grew with the glare that Callie threw her way. “Don't worry. We even told her we forgave her for last time— as unneeded as that apology was. Who knows,” she returned the bump, making her trip slightly over herself as she regained balance,” we might even have a small heart-to-heart out there.”

“Oh ha ha,” Callie said dryly, rolling her eyes. “No offense to Three and _full_ offense to you”—Marie laughed—“both of you together has zero chances of more than small talk!”

She shrugged. It wasn't a lie after all. Marie was never one for leading conversations, Callie and their parents always doing most of the work to keep the things interesting, so she didn't see Three and her doing much more than that and maybe trading a few fighting tips.

They both waited in comfortable silence for Three to come out of the shack.

Before heading out, Callie reminded them that she was on the radio and ready to act as their backup on the off chance that they needed it.

Waving as they left, the two jumped into their assigned kettle for the day, Marie chuckling as Three popped out with a small hop.

They passed through the empty streets, making sure there weren't any active weapons or the like. Anything that might be cause for concern in the future.

Sure enough, just as she had expected, they both remained relatively quiet. Only pointing out anything that might have seemed interesting to the other. Three bending down to pick up and hand her some old magazine pages—that she admitted Callie had lost months prior. And she pointed out a few vandalized posters of the Octarian leader they currently had locked away.

Even within his troops, it seemed like not everyone was a fan of him.

They ended up falling quiet when they ran out of things to look at, which is when the two realized how odd things still felt between them.

Three surprised her when she moved a little quicker to walk beside her, nervously scratching at her cheek as she pointed up at her hat with her free hand. “Oh umm… I've been meaning to mention this but uhhhhh same.”

Marie glanced at her, taking only a second to realize what she was talking about. Her pin.

Well, at least they had something else in common apart from their apparent lack of decent communication skills.

She grinned lazily. “Huh. Same hat.”

Three's eyebrows wrinkled at that. “Oh no! I didn't mean the hat. I meant, y'know… ace! I'm ace!”

“Well, yeah. I figured that's what you meant the first time,” Marie said, amused.

Her amusement slowly vanished as she caught Three's confused expression. She thought Three had just been joking around, but she seemed genuinely bewildered as to why she had mentioned the hat.

“But I was talking about the pin, not the hat. Or well, being ace.”

“Yeah. So was I.” Marie flicked the brim of her cap with a finger. “Y'know? 'Same hat'? The saying? Kinda like 'oh worm' or 'mood'?”

Three paused for a moment as she struggled to find meaning to the words, Marie stopping beside her. She could almost see her trying to work out if there was a hidden meaning or if it was a prank of some sort.

“I don't...” Three groaned in frustration and threw her hands up, resuming their previous pace,”I don't get it, but it's fine. Just wanted to let you know that it's cool that we share that, at least.”

Marie hummed in agreement. “It is.”

It was also odd that Three hadn't understood the reference immediately. Every squid in Inkopolis, or even those from out of town, used that kind of vocabulary just as often as they used 'fresh'. Or the youth tended to at least. She doubted she was that much older than Three, to the point where it was a language gap between generations.

Maybe Three had just been living a sheltered life before now? Or she could have just hung around the straight kids. Either option seemed plausible.

Still they were back to slightly uncomfortable silence.

She was wondering what other topic they could bring up, racking her brain for any Callie-like thoughts that might be interesting, when something caught her attention from the corner of her eye.

Looking up at the group of balloons that were just beginning to dip down towards the ground as the helium slowly escaped. At least they would still work for what she had in mind.

“Hey, Three.” The agent looked up at her. “I was going to wait until after we made sure the area was clear, but how about it?” She pointed up towards the balloons with the end of her charger, Three's gaze following it.

Three tilted her head slightly as she stared at them before shrugging. “Sure.”

Marie held out her charger, taking the Hero Shot in exchange.

She watched with interest as Three easily aimed up towards the nearest balloon, easily popping it with a single well aimed shot. Letting out a low whistle in amazement as the debris fell onto the ground below.

“Huh, you're a better shot than I expected you to be.”

Three shrugged, already aiming for the next target. “I know the basics of all the weapons. Although I usually only go for the splattershots.” Another pop resonated throughout the valley. “Even then, my favorite weapons are the specials.”

Marie raised an eyebrow. “Just the specials?”

“Yeah.” Three climbed atop a nearby boulder, preparing a charge before doing a back-flip off the rock and letting out a shot towards the next balloon, missing it by a few centimeters. “Crud.”

“That was still pretty impressive. Here.” She took back the offered charger and jumped on top of the boulder. Repeating the same motions as Three did but shooting just a moment before she had. The balloon popped and ripped apart.

Handing Three back the weapon she leaned against their makeshift jumping ledge. She watched as Three shot down two more balloons with ease.

Charging a final shot for the remaining balloon, Marie held a hand out to stop her.

“Aim for the string holding it in place first. It look like this one has enough air to float away, so wait for a second or two after you do that and then shoot it down.”

Three shuffled around nervously as she looked at the target. “I've never really had to shoot at a moving target. Just still ones.”

“Not even during turf?”

Three shook her head. “Just the basics remember? Never actually used chargers outside of that. It's one thing to learn how to aim an always still object and another to aim at one that's moving away.”

Marie rolled her shoulders, “Then think of it as new training. It'll be hard to aim at an octarian that's running from you when this is the only weapon you have.”

“But we're not supposed to be hurting the octarians. Captain's rule,” Three pointed out. “And if they're running away, isn't that a good thing?”

“Not when they're running away to warn the rest of their friends.” Three looked ready to argue, but Marie kept talking. “Besides, that silly rule is only set in case we don't see any octarians causing trouble. What he fails to see though, is that octarians _are_ trouble. So it's best to splat them on sight anyways.”

She waved a hand towards the balloon. “Either way, we're not aiming at them right now. It's just a balloon, and I do still think it might be a good exercise in the long run. If you struggle with it, I'm sure we can find a few more targets further down this kettle or the next.”

Three huffed, but turned around and aimed the charger upwards. She squinted a bit since there actually stood and old metal piece in front of the balloon's string. Marie knew that if it had been just the balloon she was aiming at, it would've been much easier than to try and hit the small and thin string, but she reasoned that this would help training-wise too.

A finger hovered above the trigger as Three took a deep breath. Pulling on it, the shot of ink flew through the air, hitting the mark.

Marie, and she assumed Three did as well, had expected the next shot to aim at the balloon that had immediately started blowing away, but instead they were both startled as a loud clang of metal hitting the ground filled their ears.

They both watched in surprise as a small octopod scrambled to it's feet and looked around in confusion. If Marie had to guess, the robot had been attached to the balloon as they sometimes were, and Three's shot had sent it falling.

Not wasting any time, she held the Hero Shot close and stepped past Three, who was staring wide-eyed at the octarian, running towards it. She knew that from experience that they always chased after them anyways, so the best way to deal with them was to destroy them before they could.

She heard Three hesitate for a moment before clutching onto the charger and chasing after her.

To both of their confusion, the octopod took one glance at them before a look of what seemed like… _fear_ crossed their 'face' and turned tail.

A brief falter in Three's step could be heard, but Marie continued after it. If there was an octopod here, there might be a few soldiers hanging around as well. She cursed herself for not making sure the whole kettle was clear first.

“Two! Wait!” Three called out to her.

Marie ignored her. She didn't have time to deal with Three's well meaning beliefs. If that thing escaped, it might cause them all problems soon.

“One,” she spoke into the transmitter hanging from her jacket,” we've caught sight of an octopod here. Stand by in case we need you to super jump to our location.”

“Got it.” Callie's voice crackled through her earpiece. “But Gramps said we're not to engage.”

Marie groaned, the sound of Three catching up to her making her pick up the pace a bit. “Not you too. Wait!” The octopod suddenly screeched to a halt as it came up the edge of the platform they were all standing on. “I guess it wasn't getting help, but it's still best to take it out before it can.”

Aiming the Hero Shot at it, she slowed down to a jog as she neared, already pulling the trigger and sending a barrage of ink towards it.

And then Three jumped above her head in squid form, before morphing back, hands outstretched as she took on the full impact of the ink herself. Marie's eyes widened in slight fear for a moment before realizing that the other agent had also shifted her ink color to match her own green in the split second that she had been in the air; which meant the ink harmlessly dripped off her vest, much to her relief.

Relief that quickly turned to anger as she hissed at the glaring agent. “What the _hell_ are you doing?!”

“No! What are _you_ doing!” Three yelled back, surprising her. “We're under direct orders not to fight with them! You're going directly against Captain's orders!”

“That thing doesn't count!” Marie argued. “It's not even _alive!_ It can't think for itself! It's just a robot!”

Three meets her glare head on, and Marie wondered at the back of her mind just how often this will continue to happen between them.

“Have you even bothered to look at it?!”

And that made Marie freeze for a moment. Because now that she's actually staring at it, it seemed to be… _shaking?_

Okay, well, looked like the thing was about to blow. Same as all the other ones did.

And yet it hadn't.

They had chased it all the way here and had an easy way to splat Three, and it still hadn't taken it's chance to do just that. And while Marie was no expert in reading a robot's expression, this one looked incredibly terrified.

Marie exhaled deeply, running a hand down her face. She peeked another glance at the thing. Nope! Still shaking with a protective Three continuing to watch her warily.

She lowered the weapon, shaking her head to the side to let Three know she wasn't planning to shoot it.

Three let out a small sigh as she lowered her arms, wiping at the globs of ink still latched onto her clothes.

“Green really isn't your color,” Marie huffed.

Three let out a small grunt from the back of her throat. “You're right. Looks better with your gray, honestly.”

“Silver,” Marie corrected automatically without meaning to. Years of Callie teasing her about her natural tentacle color had ingrained the phrase into her mind at this point.

“Gray,” Three repeated with a forced smile. She turned back towards the still trembling octarian. “Hey, uh… buddy. Where's your group? Or where are you supposed to be?”

Marie watched in silence as Three continued to talk to the octopod, failing to get any response from it. She frowned as Three hung her head slightly when the blasted thing just continued to stare up at her.

“I really doubt it can talk. Must have been abandoned here.”

“Yeah maybe,” Three sulked.

A sudden rustling behind them caught Marie's attention. The footsteps of two or three octolings coming up from behind them. Grabbing onto Three's arm—and clasping a hand against her mouth when she tried to protest— she dragged them both behind a broken down building just as the octolings walked into view. She felt Three stiffen in her arms as she caught sight of them.

They walked up to the octopod, the tallest of them staring down at it suspiciously, muttering something to themselves, before turning to the other two. Barking out, what Marie believed to be, orders to them, one octoling in particular groaned out loud as they turned back from where they had originally come from.

Nodding, they turned back to the remaining one and spoke to them before picking up the octopod—grumbling as it squirmed in her arms— and turning to follow the one that had just left but down a different path. They were searching for them.

Marie knew that if it had been them who had found a scared zapfish free in the middle of nowhere, they would have been wary of a trap or hidden octarians as well. But now the remaining octoling was searching the area and creeping closer towards their hiding spot.

She wracked her brain to figure out how to get them out of this mess without alerting the other octolings or aggravating Three any further, but she was coming up blank.

At this point she was entertaining the idea of just making a run for it and hoping they could make it to the other kettle before the octolings could, but her stamina wasn't exactly the best and she had no idea if Three could keep up since she had just barely done so earlier.

As the octoling started searching closer to their hiding spot, Marie tensed, ready to grab Three and flee, when the other agent laid a hand on her shoulder and forcefully pushed her back.

Marie tried to protest, but Three made a shushing motion and kept pushing her against a small corner before sliding off her vest and throwing it over her in a poor attempt to cover her up.

“Shift to squid form and leave this to me,” Three whispered hurriedly.

She reluctantly did as Three asked after a second, taking her perhaps a bit longer than it should have but it wasn't often that she needed to use this form nowadays. Moving one tentacle to lift just enough of the fabric to peek through, she watched as Three gave her a small thumbs up.

And then stood up for the octoling to catch sight of her.

Marie just about had a heart attack then and there, ready to leap up and fight. And then Three started waving her hands around, garbled words that she couldn't make out leaving her mouth in a rush. It took her a good second or two to realize that it was Octanese.

Three was speaking Octanese.

With the enemy. Who had perked up when they saw her, looked back, and once they made sure their companions weren't going to suddenly run back, started animatedly talking back.

_What?!_

The two talked as Three made hand motions that Marie could just barely figure out what they meant.

Three had found the Octobot. Kept it safe. Now she needed to go one direction towards the kettle while they went the other way.

A look of unwillingness crossed the octolings face for a moment before disappearing just as quickly as she nodded. Gesturing for the Three to lay low again, they looked around before grabbing an old metal rod. The sudden bangs as they bashed it against the walls leading from where they had come from made Marie jump slightly, her sensitive ears ringing.

They quickly threw their makeshift weapon over the side of the platform just as the two octolings came running back, the smaller of the two looking over their appearance to make sure they were alright. The octoling gestured towards the direction Three had pointed out earlier, rapidly explaining something to them before they all took off away from them.

Three and her waited with a baited breath until the tell tale sign of the launchpad activating rung, and they let out a sigh of relief.

Marie shifted back into her inkling form, handing the vest back without a word.

Three shuffled as she put it back on, standing as she pulled up the zipper before walking out of the shared space. Marie sat there for a moment as she thought about what had just happened.

They had just seen a group of octolings still hanging around here, which meant they could very well be planning something. Three had just stopped her from destroying an octopod that seemed to have more sentience than any of the others she had seen before. She had _also_ kept them both from being caught by talking to one of the octolings. In Octanese.

And the octoling had been all too quick to agree.

Marie threw her head back and groaned in frustration. _Okay, what the_ hell _is going on?!_

It wasn't like she could get mad at Three for all of this either. And the more she thought about it, the more she realized she wasn't. At all.

She was more pissed off at herself for the way she had acted. For pushing Three the way she had once again.

“Stupid lack of social skills,” she muttered bitterly. She knew it was more than that, a mix of lack of trust, pride, and just plain stupidity on her part, that had accumulated and made her make terrible decisions.

And maybe she was just making excuses again.

Rising up, and holding onto the Hero Shot with a loose grip, she followed after Three, who was already slowly making her way towards the other kettle. Marie walked a little faster to catch up, slowing down her pace only when she was trailing a couple of feet behind her.

“Hey uh… sorry.”

A quick intake of breath was the only form of acknowledgment that Three gave her.

She kept her mouth shut tight after that. Three would talk to her when she wanted to. It would only make things worse if she pushed her to talk when she clearly wasn't in the mood to. Well, if she pushed her more.

It wasn't until they reached the kettle that would take them back to the shack that Three stopped. Marie saw rather than heard her heave a breath.

“It's not… your fault...” She turned towards her. “Well, not entirely at least.”

Marie shook her head. “Three, no. I was the one that pushed you to do something you didn't want. Something that went directly against the orders that Gramps gave us before he left.”

Three laughed and Marie felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders. This meant that she wasn't too mad at her at least, if at all.

“Well, can't argue against that. But I should have at the very least tried explaining why I acted the way I did in regards to them. And well,” she gestured an arm back towards the way they had come from, “you saw that whole deal just now. Although to be fair, I learned something new as well.”

Marie chuckled, “Yeah. I really didn't think those octopods had any form of intelligence in them.”

Three fiddled with the end of the charger as she looked down below. “I think that specific one was an outlier. Or maybe they're evolving their technology. I'd never seen one act in that manner before. And they were much smaller than normal octopods.” She raised a hand up near her chest. “They're usually this tall and the little guy could barely reach my waist.”

That was true. Marie hadn't run into them too often whenever she had gone on patrol with Callie, but they were usually much bigger and moved, well, robotically. They had never shown any form of emotion.

“And the octoling?”

Three shifts the charger at an angle. “We've run into each other before. She's one of the nicer one's I've talked to. Which is good for me since she's a blue-ringed octopus and all.” She laughed, but the humor in her voice didn't reach her eyes.

And she's right. Octolings are much more likely than them to accidentally, or even purposely, poison them if they weren't careful. But Marie caught onto the other things she had said.

“So you've talked to more of them?”

Three winced. “...yeah.”

Marie hummed at her response.

Well, she _had_ been joking when she mentioned having a heart-to-heart to Callie earlier. But she supposed now was as good a time as any.

* * *

Marie seemed to hesitate for a moment before sitting down beside the kettle entrance, crossing her legs and laying the Hero Shot to one side. She patted the space beside her, a clear invitation to join her.

Three did so after a moment; carefully placing the borrowed charger on the dirt below to keep from scratching it.

“Think you could explain it to me then? The reason you're so fond of the octarians?” Marie clarified.

Well, 'fond' wasn't the word she would use here. More like she sympathized with them. Almost forced in a way to follow their leader's directions.

And maybe there were a few here and there that she could find herself trying to befriend if things were different.

Three kept her gaze on the ground, trying to think whether she wanted to talk about it or not in the first place. But wasn't this the opportunity she was looking for? Here stood the very inkling who she had been so wary about working with now asking to know why she did things the way she did.

If Marie was actually willing to listen…

Three took a deep breath and recounted her story.

* * *

She frowned as she walked past the small walkway, mindlessly practicing shifting her weapon into ink and making it disappear into her hand. A skill most inklings would forgo nowadays since they lugged their weapons along in specially designed cases for the most part. Even then, Three could only do it for small bursts of time.

She had turned off her headset for a moment, since the only sound coming out had been static. It presumably had to do with the fact she heard Cap'n Cuttlefish cry out as he dropped his receiver. He would probably fix it soon enough.

Most of the octarians in this area had already been cleared out. Not that it had been particularly difficult to do. Not when it was as easy as running in shooting ink everywhere. She wondered if there would be more soldiers the deeper into the area she went.

Patience, she reminded herself, this is only your second day.

Plus, her muscles were still a bit sore from yesterday's fighting and for as easy as splatting the little octoballs and octopods had been so far, she wasn't stupid enough to try and speed through everything and be caught off guard.

Walking up to the wall in her way, she glanced up to see the conveniently placed balloon fish. Setting it off might alert any nearby octarians though, so she opted for another method.

Inking instead the tall platform beside her, she swam up it's side before shooting a thin trail of ink towards the side of the wall. She had propel herself with her own ink to reach the top of the wall, but once she had, she leapt off the platform and quickly moved up the ink trail to the roof.

Smiling to herself as she found the next checkpoint and the launchpad just a few feet away, she walked towards it when the sounds of laughter reached her ears.

Confused, she realized that it was coming from somewhere to the side of the roof, just below where she was standing. Carefully leaning over to see if she could find the source of laughter and hushed whispers, she saw something that made her blood run cold.

Two octolings were huddled together, an inkling magazine in one's hand as they both looked through it, pointing at all the modeling inklings as they flipped the pages. They couldn't have been much older than her by a year or two; and the worst part was that Three could understand everything they were saying.

Maybe, had she been another inkling—one who couldn't understand their words and saw nothing but an enemy—she would have easily taken out her weapon and taken the shot. She was one story higher up than them, and they would have both been splatted before realizing what was happening.

But she wasn't some other inkling. She was herself, and for as much as she hated _why_ she had learned their language, the fact of the matter was that she could process everything.

And at the end of the day, these were just kids; just like the ones she had watched just earlier, all running around and laughing as they shared stories and showed one another the latest trends.

They were joking with one another. And yeah, they were making fun of the occasional facial expression or the dramatic poses, but they were also wondering how some of those clothes might look on them. How it would be like to live on the surface.

And Three realized in horror that these were real lives she was playing with.

Turf wars were one thing. This… this was an _actual war._

She shakily took a step backwards as she processed this. Seeing these octolings now, she wondered how she would have reacted if she had met them in a fight rather than coming across them like this. She would have done as the Captain asked.

And all those octarians she had splatted already, just within the first kettle and a half, treating them like nothing more than targets. But those were also living beings. With feelings.

She felt her stomach churn as she raised a hand to her mouth. This… this couldn't continue.

Maybe she could quit. Tell Cap'n Cuttlefish to find some other inkling to send into war.

But nothing would change.

What if—

All of her thoughts were brought to a screeching halt as something heavy rammed into her side, sending them both flying off the building. Three saw purple ink fly as something shifted in the air.

_An octarian,_ she thought.

She didn't have time to be confused as the ground grew nearer. Twisting herself in the air to land as upright as she could, she waited until the split second before she hit the ground to shift her lower body into ink, stopping the momentum just enough to keep from being splatted; although the impact still rippled through her body and she clenched her teeth to keep from crying out.

Her legs would bruise tomorrow and it would be a pain to walk, but at least she wasn't sent back to the last respawn point she had registered onto. Which was… all the way back where she had started.

The octoling landed directly in front of her, immediately shifting back into their humanoid form as they lowered themselves into a defensive stance.

<”Like hell I'm gonna let you hurt them! Stay away from my friends!”> the octoling snarled.

Friends. They were friends and all they were doing was their best to protect them.

Three was the one barging in out of nowhere and wreaking havoc onto their lives.

<”I won't...”>

The octoling looked taken aback. They loosened up their stance just enough that Three would easily be able to tackle them down. But then what?

She couldn't just move on like nothing had happened. Like the other two octolings weren't still above them, blissfully unaware of what was happening down below.

They slowly uncurled their fists. <”You… who taught you our language?”>

Three laughed, low and humorless. <”Someone of no importance. Not anymore.”> She raised her head up looking them in the eyes. <”Forget that. How about I give you a chance to bring in the inkling who ruined everything in that kettle yesterday? What say you? This might be your only chance to take me out!”>

She was trying to provoke her and she knew they were both aware of that fact. Three just had no idea what she would do if they did attack her, or what to do if they didn't.

<”I'm not stupid,”> they said after a moment of hesitation, teeth ground together. <”And you're not what's important to me right now anyways.”>

She looked at them, a confused grin on her face. Lowering her arms as she spoke, <”Then wouldn't the logical way to keep them safe be by ridding yourselves of me?”>

<”So what? Another squid would simply take your place. Just like you replaced the other two,”> they scoffed. <”Besides, you might come in handy for what I've got in mind.”>

“Wha—“ Three's eyes widened slightly as they suddenly threw themselves in her direction, but she didn't bother trying to put her arms up in defense. To her surprise though, they ran right past her, before swimming up the wall through their trail of ink climbing up next to where her own had been.

Three remained there staring down at the spot where they had left in shock for what felt like an hour, but couldn't have been more than a few minutes.

Right as they ran past them they had mumbled something she had only just barely caught.

“ _Communicating with us and being passive might help you out more than you think.”_

Three wondered how much truth there was to that and how likely it would get her killed in the long run. _As if you didn't just offer out the chance for them to do exactly that just moments ago_ , she thought.

She shook her head, slapping her hands roughly against her cheeks. “Focus!”

First things first, she had to find a way to move around all the kettles without any of the octarians noticing her. Or at least as many of them as she could avoid. Splatting didn't mean death so long as they had their respawn points, and she knew those were at least receiving power since they were always lit up. Hopefully they were all registered to one of them, because if things came to actual confrontation, she _would_ need to splat them.

Retrieving the zapfish was still her mission after all.

Speaking of, there was no way she could tell Cap'n Cuttlefish. He had been so adamant about her going out to defeat the octarians that she doubted he would understand why she would refuse to hurt them if possible from here on out.

Her hand brushed against her headpiece. It didn't seem that old, but the radio the Captain used definitely was. And he had dropped it hard enough to knock out their communications for a while.

Surely something so old and damaged would cause a few malfunctions from time to time, no? Just whenever she tried to talk the octarians down. Malfunctions that would solve themselves with a flick of a button.

Three sighed. Right now she had to finish up this area. It would even serve as new training to improve her stealth.

Figuring the three octolings were long gone by then, she swam back up to the roof.

* * *

“Sure enough they were gone by the time I got there. Haven't seen them since.” Three dug her face deeper against her legs, which were pressed against her body. “At least I think I haven't seen them. Never properly caught the faces of the other two. Also that's when things started getting a bit more difficult for me since I had to adapt to the whole 'communication' style of getting through the kettles. It was sorta exhausting honestly.”

Marie remained silent beside her, processing everything she had just told her.

“That's… a lot...” she eventually said.

“Yeah.”

Marie glanced over at her but Three kept her gaze down. “Well, thank you for explaining things.” She grinned weakly and leaned in closer to her. “Anything else on your mind that you wanna talk about?”

She was joking, and Three was aware of this, but she had to tell her about one other thing, something that she wouldn't be able to hide from them in the long run.

And something that would likely cause more problems between them on the same level as today had.

“Actually...”

Marie's ears drooped. “Ah… there's more?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Well, go on.” Marie said, motioning with one hand for her to continue.

Three moved her head back a bit. This bit was actually a bit more difficult to explain, and it took a lot of effort to push past her own pride to say out loud.

“Well, let's just say that sometimes we come from a place of comfort and— wait no. Uh, I guess you could say that even when we're technically given everything, there's still more that we actually _need._ Does that make sense? Probably not. Look, um… everyone does dumb things when we're young. I'm sure Callie and you have—n-not that I'm calling you dumb!” Three waved her hands around. “I'm just saying that I've done some really stupid stuff, clearly, and maybe that stupid stuff leads t-to… not… the… best...conditions… to… well...” she trailed off, suddenly all too self conscious to actually say it.

Marie, who had been eerily quiet as she rambled on, had figured out what she was trying to say anyways. Her eyes widened as she looked at Three— who was now a blushing and stuttering mess.

She startled Three by suddenly standing up, extending a hand down towards her.

“Not here. Callie's asking us to meet back at the base so we can go to… your place...”

Oh right, Callie had probably been listening in the entire time through Marie's radio transmitter. Three swallowed hard. She could follow Marie and then lead them to where they asked or run away they moment they reached base. Choosing to go along with either of those would drastically change everything anyways so…

She clasped onto the offered hand, which easily helped lift herself off the ground.

Three was done running away, maybe the advice that octoling had offered her that day would work just as well in this situation. She just had to wait and see how Callie and Marie reacted to everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey pspspsppspsp ( [shoves this into your hands ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4ozyLn7Bv0&feature=youtu.be) )hope y'all enjoy it! or don't! it's just a lil something to go with this chapter. perhaps not too well done, but I thought it might be fun for you guys. it certainly was for me :]  
> -  
> anyways, it's late and I'm tired so I'm uploading as is. if you guys find any mistakes you want me to fix please tell me! also just a small notice of sorts, I'm going to be doing nanowrimo with some friends, focusing mainly on this fic, so there might not be a chapter in november bc I'm focusing more on getting ideas down rather than a chapter as a whole. that being said, I'll hopefully have enough writing to get the next few chapters after I'm done out quicker.  
> hope you all enjoy splatoween!!


	5. until the truth comes out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Squid Sisters find out about Three's living situation and make a big decision to right the situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hewwo again :3 It's been a while, hasn't it? There's some info about this story going forward that'll be at the end of the chapter but for now I hope you guys enjoy this one!

Callie could say with utmost certainty that she had a soft spot for Three, regardless of the fact that they didn’t know one another very well yet.

Three laughed at her jokes, including the overly cheesy ones that usually resulted with a huff and a shove from Marie, and had surprisingly occasionally also gone along with some of her antics. Even if she was a bit awkward about it. It was obvious that her and Marie had similar personalities—both being somewhat reserved and quiet. Always wary and observing before engaging with others.

That first time they had spent chatting through the radio, after realizing that Three _could_ in fact talk, Callie had to keep herself from outright laughing in her cousin’s face as she grew more and more annoyed with the half-answers and snarky comebacks that Three sent her way.

It was almost like someone had cloned Marie and then put the two together for a game to see who could push the other’s buttons more effectively.

Three had won that time.

Marie was the type to be dry and disinterested with other people to the point of being seen as rude by those that didn’t know her well. And that was fine! It was what made Marie, well… _Marie_!

But it made it that much funnier when they finally met someone who could keep up with her and hurl back the same manner of comments that she dished out.

By the end of their game of twenty questions, Marie had been so riled up that she hadn’t even been able to pay attention properly to the feed that came in from Three’s camera as she rescued the next zapfish.

It was when they headed for the shack to fetch and release the two zapfish back into Inkopolis—after making completely sure that Three had left—that Marie had warned her about Three, and not for the last time.

“Careful with that one, Cal. There’s something about her…seems the type to even truly make _you_ really mad someday.”

Callie had laughed back then. Joking that she had spent most of her life around Marie and had practically become immune to her quips, so if she never got mad at her, she certainly wouldn’t be with Three.

Well, they did have the occasional argument here and there, but due to certain circumstances they had been raised together like siblings; it would've been impossible not to butt heads.

And then during that week in which Three had thrown herself into clearing out the kettles as fast as she could manage—just to get their grandfather back—Callie had decisively concluded that she was a sweet squid underneath that closed-off and detached exterior. From feeding and caring for the rescued zapfish until Marie and her could return them, to offhandedly asking them if they were okay.

Or she _thought_ she was asking them offhandedly, but Callie could pick out the genuine care for their well-being—just as easily as she could pick out the same concern in Marie’s questions to Three.

Likely because Three knew that they were worried out of their minds for their Gramps.

There were just so many little hints that Three had dropped that showed how much of a sweetheart she actually was. As she had thought, Three put up a front, similar to her cousin, until she could figure everyone out.

Callie couldn't judge her for it. As far as she could tell, Three had moved to Inkopolis on her own—as many young squids did nowadays—and was likely a bit put off by the change of pace.

Marie and her had also moved away from their parents to Inkopolis once their careers had started to take off, but they had had each other. And their Gramps too, once they had managed to track him down. Despite that, the abrupt change from country life to the city’s atmosphere was like being splatted by surprise.

It had taken them a long while to adjust, even with the distractions that came from pursuing an idol career.

So Three's initial behavior was understandable and Callie assumed that with time she would open up even more to them. Which is also why she had been so quick to forget about Marie's comment that time. There was no way Three could make them angry, annoyed sure, eventually maybe, but nothing more than that.

And yet here she was.

But oh no, Callie wasn't angry. She was _furious_.

Three was more than entitled to her secrets. It would be foolish to be offended given the fact that Marie and her had kept their idol status from her.

And sure, maybe in some form Marie had essentially pressured her into spilling information about what her deal with the octarians was all about. Callie was a tad annoyed with her cousin, but at least they got to know Three's reasoning. One that Callie didn't fully side with yet, but she would try her best to respect.

But this was something else altogether.

This she couldn't help but get mad as all get-out about.

But not at Three. Rather, _for her_.

Callie looked around the roof in disbelief. She eyed the nest of blankets strewn about and the small bundle of snacks beside it. The same backpack that they had caught sight of through Three's headset camera whenever she took out the zapfish snacks was laying a few feet away from where they stood.

All in all there wasn't much to see. But that was just it, wasn't it?

There were only the bare essentials—if even that—and nothing more.

And the extra information Three had given them on the way certainly didn't make things any better. What Marie and Callie had assumed to be a _very_ baby-faced sixteen or seventeen year old actually turned out to be a fourteen year old kid.

She had only just turned the legal age to turf war. And Gramps had sent her into an _actual_ war.

Not even _they_ had been allowed to fight the octarians until earlier this year!

Callie was vaguely aware of how quiet Marie was being about this. She had fully expected her cousin to be just as pissed off as she was feeling, but she had yet to say a word.

Turning back to the other two occupants on the roof, she felt all of her anger vanish as she saw the sight before her.

Three was crouched down and shaking, face and the tips of her ears and fingers glowing a bright orange, just as anxious as she had been the entire time they had walked here, but the lack of doing anything meant that she was left to do nothing but curl into herself. And Marie—the same cousin who had been so wary of her before, despite Callie’s own declarations of giving her a chance—was knelt beside her, gently rubbing circles against her back as whispered assurances to her.

Callie felt guilty. There would be plenty of time to want to curse out the world later, but Three's state came first.

Slowly walking up to them, so as to not spook her out any more than she already was, she carefully dropped onto one knee.

“Hey, Three,” she said softly. “It's okay. We're not mad at you.”

_Not at you. Not for this_.

Three raised her head, the tears sitting on the edges of her eyes threatening to fall. “You should be,” she rasped.

“Three—“

“I lied to you guys. I kept this a secret from you two knowing that you would hate or pity me if you found out!” She harshly squeezed the ends of her tentacles. “If you're not angry at me for this, then you should definitely be about the way I dealt with the octarians! If not for my stupid decisions, I could've taken back the Great Zapfish sooner. I could've prevented Cap'n from getting squidnapped. But I _didn't_! All because I couldn't deal with my own _coddamn emotions_!” her voice cracked as she pulled back and shook off Marie's hand.

“I compromised all of Inkopolis for my own selfish reasons! I've kept so much from you from day one! I… I lied! I”—Three stared down at the floor—“I lied… I should've asked for your guys' help from the start. I could barely handle it all. I almost died that night...” She raised a shaky hand to her mouth. “Cod… I almost _died_. I… and you two… you and Gramps would've...”

Three tried to choke back a sob but was unable to keep the tears back anymore, they traitorously ran down her cheeks. “That could've been the end for you too...”

The sight broke Callie's hearts and she couldn't help herself anymore. She reached her open arms out and brought Three against her chest, who froze at the unexpected contact.

“But it wasn't,” Callie said. “Three, you saved all of Inkopolis. You retrieved the Great Zapfish and rescued our Gramps. You came into our lives at just the right moment and helped us when we couldn't keep up anymore either. And Three—” Callie rested her chin on top of Three's head as she held her closer “—we're so, _so_ grateful for everything that you've done. You're our hero.”

Three whimpered. A sound so small and soft that involuntarily slipped through her lips. She shook within Callie's hold.

And when Callie nuzzled the top of her head and murmured 'it's okay', she couldn't hold back the sobs anymore. Hands curled against the fabric of her shirt as she cried into it, all of the fear and anxiety she had had about telling them everything let loose in that moment.

Callie held on tight to her, vowing to be a pillar for the younger agent. Not just at this moment, but whenever else Three might need her.

Marie watched them in silence, ears drooping, keeping her own emotions in check for Three's sake.

Both of them pained as each and every one of Three's cries resonated in their ears.

The three of them remained there for cod knows how long. Three's sobs slowly dying out into small teary hiccups. Marie had resumed her earlier motions, helping calm her down.

There was still so much more they had to deal with tonight, but they wanted Three to be as calm as possible through the rest of it.

Here was a someone so young who had been burdened with so much in so little time. And Callie feared that they only knew the tip of the whole iceberg that were her problems.

Whatever had gotten Three into a situation of even needing to be living alone up here was concerning. And Three likely wouldn't be in the right head space to open up to them about that right now.

Callie slowly pulled away as Three's tears started to ebb away, still keeping her in a loose enough hold so that she could push her away completely if she was uncomfortable. What she had allowed in a moment of vulnerability wasn't necessarily something she would be okay with generally.

Still, Three remained in place.

Marie did remove her hand from her back though, before pulling off her cap.

She hesitated for a moment before speaking. “I'll admit, this is also on us for not having noticed sooner.”

Three tried to wipe away the remaining tears as she shook her head. “No. I never said anything. I'm the one to bla—“

“Three, no offense, but it's all pretty obvious once you actually think about it. The way you froze up on us—on me—that night. And your gills. That was a clear giveaway that you weren't okay. I'd assumed, stupidly, that it was because of your injury, but…” She swept her arm in front of her, the cap hanging limp in her hand. “And you didn't understand the most common of references. Things that everyone knows. Plus you were always sleeping on the couch back at the shack.”

Marie groaned in frustration. “It was all right there! Just staring us in the face. But I was too preoccupied with my own thoughts to notice.”

“Hey now,” Callie whispered, “we're not here to play the blame game. It was on all of us to communicate things better, but it's fine now! We're gonna talk things out and we'll figure where to go from here,” she assured Three.

“Will we though?” Three rasped.

“We will,” Callie said firmly.

“Say, uuuuh, why'd you choose a roof of all places to stay at? Especially since, as you said on our walk here, you brought enough money with you to last a decent while here?” Marie asked curiously.

Three shrugged, gesturing around. “I mean, it's pretty spacious, all things considered. And it's out of view from everyone else since no one really bothers looking up here at all. But also,” she tiredly rubbed a fist against her face, “it's not as suffocating as a hotel room would've been. Being here makes me feel free.”

“Didn't go out much back home, huh?”

“…not really…”

“Ah…” Marie realized that the were circling right back to a sensitive topic. She cleared her throat. “Well, I suppose this place served you well enough for the period of time you had to be here. But I think it's time we took you someplace, er, more _homey_.”

Three looked at her warily. “I still don't want to live in a room on my own if I can help it. Between that and this, I'd much rather stay here.”

Marie shared a look with Callie, unsure as to how to convince her otherwise.

Luckily Callie took the reins of the conversation.

“You can't stay here forever, Three. Someone's bound to find you hanging out around here eventually. For as much as us inklings hate heights, you should see how the younger ones get during the festival event when they get to climb all over the statues. That's coming up pretty soon and they'll find all of this.”

Marie nodded in agreement.

That was the only time in which inklings would willingly come up here. Most of them despised heights for the most part. Three acted more like an octarian than an inkling with the way she seemed so comfortable being up here, but that also might have helped her throughout her initial missions.

Huh, now that Callie thought about it, Three held a certain fondness for heights and spoke Octanese. It was almost as if they had an octoling on their team in a way. Or at least someone who heavily sympathized with them.

More of the latter, honestly.

“I can figure it out. Maybe I'll move my things to the shack that day.”

Marie exhaled loudly. “Three. If you think either of us or Gramps would be okay with you, a fourteen year old, continuing to live up here on your own, you've truly underestimated us.”

“But I already told you! I don't want to be stuck all alone in a room! Apart from the recon missions, I don't really get to do much else. I'll just be stuck there all day staring at the walls!” Three protested.

“And who said anything about you being on your own?”

“H—huh?” Three looked at her in confusion.

Callie smiled softly, already knowing what her cousin would say and proud of her for being the one to do so.

“You're not going to be alone, Three. Callie and I own a small apartment a few blocks away. You're staying there with us until we figure out a solution to all of this.” She stood up, pulling Callie up with her as she did. “Look, it's late and I'm sure we're all very tired after such a stressful day. We'll go back to our apartment, get some sleep and figure out how to handle whatever we can tomorrow.”

Three opened her mouth to argue, but Marie cut her off.

“Three, that's final.” Marie told her, giving her a stern look. It softened as she saw Three's anxious expression. Even her, who struggled so much with figuring out other people's emotions, could tell that the younger agent didn't want to bother them more than thought she already had.

What Three didn't know, was that they had both been raised in such a way that helping out friends and family was a trait that had been instilled into them from the moment they were born. Especially when it had always just been them and their three parents.

So they were more than willing to take in a runaway inkling. Despite her protests.

Callie spoke up, “Now c'mon, we should get back to our apartment before it gets too dark. The streets aren't exactly the safest, even here in Inkopolis.”

Marie nodded, moving across the roof and reaching down to gather all of Three's belongings.

Callie held a hand out towards Three. “C'mon,” she said.

Three let out a soft snort before muttering something that Callie couldn't quite make out. It sounded suspiciously like 'what have I gotten myself into'.

With her teenage-like remark and the way she practically trailed behind her, Callie reasoned that things would be fine. They'd find a way to fix everything and help Three.

* * *

The door to their apartment creaked open as they walked inside.

Their place wasn't large by any means but it was comfy. Her and Callie were used to living in a smaller space back home anyways, so they hadn't felt the need to live in anything bigger than what they actually needed.

Two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a particularly large walk-in closet that held all of their abandoned instruments and other miscellaneous music gear. It fit just right for the two of them, and even once their careers had started taking off, they still felt comfortable enough here, so here they remained.

It would present a bit of a problem this time though, since there wasn't really anyplace that they could fit Three into on such short notice.

Callie laughed, “It's been a while since we had our last slumber party. Three you can take my ro—“

“I'll just sleep on the couch if you don't mind.” Three interrupted her, voice hoarse now that her crying session earlier had caught up to her.

Marie sighed. “Three, the point is for you to get proper rest.”

“I will! Believe me, this couch looks so much nicer than the one at the shack. And it's obviously a step up from...y'know.”

It certainly was, Marie could agree to that much.

She knew that it would be near impossible to convince her otherwise at this point. They had already pushed her enough for the day, and she didn't want to make her feel worse by making her think they were pitying her.

“Fine. You'll sleep here and we'll talk over breakfast tomorrow morning.” She heard the sound of Callie's footsteps approaching from behind her and she realized that she had left them for a moment to go grab a couple of clean blankets from her room.

Callie gently placed them on the couch and gave Three a small smile.

“Hopefully these will make the couch just a bit nicer to sleep on.” She let out a loud yawn and grabbed onto Marie's arm. “As for you, I wasn't joking about the sleepover. It'll be nice to have one tonight!”

Marie knew what she actually wanted to do, so she followed along just this once.

“Right. Uh, sleep well, Three,” she said awkwardly. She was used to throwing a pillow at her cousin’s face as a form of saying goodnight, not this.

“You guys too,” Three murmured tiredly, already moving the blankets around as if she were making a nest to sleep within; similar to the one that she had made back on the roof.

Probably just a way to feel safer in an unknown place.

Marie let Callie lead her into her room, since her cousin knew that she would've flat out refused if they had to spend the night in the other room. It was nothing short of a mess and Marie often wondered how she managed to find anything in there at all.

Tossing her cap across the room—not caring where it landed, that was a problem for future Marie—she flopped onto the bed, too tired to keep up appearances anymore. Not that she really needed to since the only other person in the room was Callie.

“At least change into something more suited for rest. Those jeans can't be good to sleep in.” Callie sent her a pointed glance, already slipping into a pair of pajamas that she had stolen from her closet.

“I've slept in them before without any issues.”

“Lazy butt.”

“Yep,” Marie said, accompanying it with a small 'pop'.

Regardless, she at least slipped off her jacket so as to not overheat during the night. It too landed somewhere unknown on the fuzzy carpet.

She rolled over just enough to make room for her cousin, feeling the bed dip as she climbed in beside her.

Marie handed her the extra blanket she always had beside the bed from when it got too chilly at night. Callie took it with a small smile and ruffled her tentacles. Marie’s ear twitched in slight annoyance.

“Thanks, cuz.” She undid the bow that her own tentacles were held within, sighing in relief as they fell behind her, before motioning for her to turn around so she could reach hers. “Hey, Marie. There's no way we're making Three go back to her family.”

“Well of course not. It's pretty clear that she doesn't want to be with them anymore, Cal. I'm not heartless enough to send her back into a household where we have no clue what they did to her to end up with all… this!” She waved her hands around as Callie smoothed her tentacle down.

Callie giggled. “I knew at least one of your hearts could melt.”

“Oh hush you!” Marie gave her a playful slap on the shoulder as they both settled down underneath their blankets.

The lava lamp sitting on her dresser giving off a soft glow, illuminating the room in a glowing light green, along with a similar shade emanating from her own tentacles. Callie grabbed onto the end of one as she examined it.

“You make it so hard to not want to take a bite out of these.”

“They're my tentacles, Cal. I'd really enjoy keeping them at the length they are now. And especially without a huge chunk of them missing.”

Not that Callie didn’t occasionally gnaw on them. It was a common habit for inklings, similar to biting the ends of one’s finger, but biting their own tentacles gave them something to occupy both their hands and mouths with. The habit wasn’t much of a problem on it’s own, unless you pulled too hard at the base— _that_ hurt.

But Marie preferred to keep her own tentacles free from chompy squids.

Especially a certain squid that was giving her large puppy eyes as she held her now captive green tentacle end in her hands. Marie gave her a cautious look, ready to kick her out of the bed if she tried anything.

“But it'll be like biting into a glow-stick,” Callie whined. She perked up and let the tentacle drop down beside her, much to Marie’s relief. “Think my mouth would glow if I actually bit it.”

“… maybe? But you're not experimenting with mine. Go find some other firefly squid to annoy!”

Callie laughed, lightly kicking her leg beneath the blanket.

“But no other squid would let me get near them to bite in the first place. You're my only option, Mar. C'mon! For the sake of science!”

Marie scoffed. “I mean… Three seems to be one too. And you can ell science to go fu—“

“MARIE! There's a child in the living room!” Callie chided. "And Three doesn't seem to have glowy tentacles like you!"

She rolled her eyes. “So she's probably mixed, just like us. And it's not like she can even hear us.” Her ear flicked in the direction where Three was. “In fact, she's already sleeping.”

“Oh…” Callie glanced at the closed door. “…does she snore?” she asked curiously.

“Not really? It's more of a small whistling noise she's making.” Marie grinned, “Nothing compared to your loud snoring!”

“I don't snore!”

“Whatever.” They both laid in silence, staring at the lights moving around on the ceiling. “Y'know, this means she can't join us for turf, like, _ever_ , right?”

Callie tilted her head in confusion. “Why not? I figured that she didn't turf because she associates it with Octo Valley. But maybe if she hangs out with us she might even come to enjoy it!”

“Under ordinary circumstances, sure. But remember that she mentioned not even having an ID to place all her money into an account? The only reason someone her age wouldn't open one is because she's likely being tracked by her parents.”

Callie's mouth made a small 'o' shape in realization. “The moment she opens an account, her family will probably come running to Inkopolis to drag her back!”

Marie nodded. That's where they would have a few complications, and she would rather solve this particular problem before their talk with Three tomorrow.

Money wasn't a problem for them. Heck, sometimes she felt that they had more money than they knew what to do with. Or at least for the age they were at, where everything was still discounted due to the fact that they were still in fact minors, they had plenty of money saved up for future use or to donate.

But Three would definitely see them offering to help her out until she turned of age as the latter. And with what they could understand of her so far, she would heavily protest against it. Marie wouldn't be looking forward to arguing with her to get her to accept their money.

Honestly, if the positions were reversed, she would turn down the offer too.

If there was something that she knew both Three and her held a lot of, it was pride. The same pride that could so easily become their downfall when they let it get the better of them.

The only other option would be to help Three find a job, and at fourteen, most businesses were pretty open to accepting teenagers to fill part-time jobs. It still gave them time to turf when they wanted to, but for those that didn't want to focus solely on that, getting a job helped keep them occupied and gain experience.

Except that they came back to the same problem that most business owners wouldn't hire anyone until they had their ID, since that was where all their money would be deposited.

They would have to find someone who was willing to pay her in physical cash…or who would go along with a somewhat illegal loophole of sending the money to their account to hand it to her later.

“Hey Cal, do we know of anyone who would be willing to dabble in some slightly shady business?”

Callie brought her own tentacle to her mouth as she thought. “Uhhhh… Spyke is the only one that really come to mind.”

Marie grimaced. “Yeah, no. I respect the fact that the dude does what he needs to do to run his business, but I don't want Three to get caught up in any of his messes.”

Not that Spyke had ever actually broken the law, but he just carried a sort of reputation of maybe possibly having done so. And while the cousins knew the truth, he usually just laughed at everyone’s accusations, giving nothing more than a conspiratory wink instead.

He claimed it was because it made his business seem all that much cooler. Marie couldn't help but wonder if it actually helped or not.

Well, she supposed most teenagers were really into the shadier sides of things. The more interesting and risky something seemed, the more they seemed to flock to it.

Who else? Who else could they try and convince to hire Three?

Wait— maybe…

“What about Sheldon?”

“Sheldon? Like the little hermit crab that runs Ammo Knights? That same Sheldon?”

Marie rolled her eyes. “That’s the one. He's literally the only Sheldon we know.”

“I don't know Marie… isn't he like a really big stickler about following rules and such?”

“Maybe? But he also seems the type to be willing to jump through a few hoops to help out a young inkling in need—for as stingy as he is about lending out weapons sometimes.”

Callie mulled it over. “He might, huh? Actually now that I'm thinking about it, his grandfather worked with our Gramps back during the Great Turf War too! Think he might've inherited some of his want to help?”

“I think that's more of a person-to-person thing. But it might work as leverage against him if he says no...”

“We are not threatening him! That's the opposite of what we're trying to do!” Callie scolded her.

Marie shrugged. “Hey, gotta do what we gotta do.”

Callie huffed, rolling onto her side in the opposite direction when Marie puffed up her own cheeks to tease her.

“Are you going to call him tomorrow?” Callie asked, not bothering to face her.

“Nah, I'll send him a quick text with some info about this whole situation. He probably gets up earlier than we do thanks to his shop anyways.”

Callie made a small noise of affirmation, pulling the blanket closer to her body as she got ready to sleep.

Marie grabbed her phone and sent Sheldon a pretty vague message that she no doubt knew he would have several questions about. Placing it back face down on headboard next to her lamp and hormones, she settled back glancing up at the ceiling as her cousin's breathing started to even out beside her.

She grabbed the squid pillow to her right and lightly thumped it against Callie’s form.

“Hmmm… love ya Marie…”

Marie smiled as she let her own eyes drift shut. “Love you too, you big baby.”

* * *

Waking up in a house that wasn't her own was off-putting.

Three had woken up earlier than the other two agents, having already folded the blankets they had lent her and placing them at the end of the couch. She hadn't wanted to move around the place too much since it wasn't her space to intrude, so she had opted for eating an apple she had in her backpack and then playing a mindless game on her phone until the other two woke up.

Now that the adrenaline and anxiety from the night before had settled down enough to let her think, she realized just how ridiculous her outbursts had been. She felt slight regret for having said anything at all, followed by guilt about the fact that that would have meant continuing to lie to them.

Regardless, they knew enough about her living situation now that they wouldn't have willingly let her run back to the roofs. And even if they had, they knew where her hiding spot was anyways, so it would've amounted to the same.

She had reluctantly already given into the idea that she would need to stay at a hotel or cheap apartment for the time being.

Sighing she idly wondered what other options she had at that point. Returning home was completely off the table. As was participating in turf for the same reason that she wanted to keep hidden from her family.

The money she had left would probably be enough to pay for a hotel room for more than a few months if she was extremely careful about where the money went. She'd give anything to not be stuck on her own again, but she'd sooner take that than going back to Coral County.

Maybe she could find a roommate?

But then that would mean she needed to go out and talk to strangers to find someone, which she wasn't too keen on doing.

Three pressed her face into her hands and let out a muffled groan. She couldn't help but feel that she'd ruined things just by opening her big mouth.

And yet she also felt relieved.

Funny how emotions tended to work at times.

“Not much of a morning person?”

Three jumped, startled as Callie walked out into the living room, closing the door behind her.

She headed straight to the kitchen, rummaging around the cabinets as she settled into her normal morning routine. As if the extra inkling in her house wasn't such a big deal.

“Oh uh…I am, _kinda_. I don't get up super early, but I also don't enjoy sleeping in, I guess.”

Callie nodded as she fiddled with the coffee maker. “Oh, I getcha! Not too early and not too late type of deal!” She pressed start and stepped back with a satisfied smile before opening the fridge. “Marie's the type to sleep in whenever she gets the chance. Loves her beauty sleep that one! As for me, I enjoy waking up early! More time to enjoy each and every day!”

Taking out a carton of eggs and milk, she bumped the fridge door with the edge of her foot to close it. Placing the items on the counter as she took out a pan, placing it over the stove and turning it on as she waited for it to heat up.

She leaned back against the counter as she turned to look at Three. “I mean, I usually wake up an hour or two earlier than this, but uh…” Callie trailed off, but the rest of her thought was obvious. She cleared her throat and clapped her hands in front of her. “Anyways! How do you like your eggs? Also we've got milk and orange juice since you mentioned once that you didn't like coffee.”

Three looked at her, surprised that she still remembered her curt response to Marie's question that time.

“Er, scrambled and milk is fine,” she answered before shaking her head. “Wait, no. I already ate a fruit. Please don't worry about me.”

Callie waved her off as she took a bowl and started whisking the eggs with a fork. “I'm making sure you eat because you're under our roof right now. We always make sure our guests are fed and happy!”

Three furrowed her brow, wanting to argue but also knowing she had to be respectful because Callie was right. This was their home and she couldn't just barge in doing as she pleased.

“…thank you,” she settled for instead. Standing up from the couch, she edged closer to the kitchen, hoping that would help keep their voices quiet enough to keep from waking up Marie.

Callie gave her a small smile as she hesitantly rested her arms against the other side of the counter.

“Did you sleep well at least?”

“Yeah. Thank you for the blankets, by the way. I can wash them before I leave.” She tapped a finger against her mouth. “That might mean taking them out though, so I'm not sure if you'd be okay with that.”

“You act as if you completely ruined them. Don't worry about it, I haven't even used those in a while, so they're not that dirty.” Callie left the pan on the stove at a low heat and settled down across from her. “But it's good that you got some rest. Especially since there's a lot we have to go over once Marie comes out.”

Three shrunk a little at that. She had held the smallest sliver of hope that they wouldn't talk about anything, but that was perhaps foolish to have even thought about.

But…this was good in a way. Another chance at properly communicating with one another. This time without her crying her eyes out on the idol's clothes. Which, speaking of, she should at least offer to clean as well. Even if the answer was likely the same.

“Oh, you mentioned she likes waking up late though, no? I don't want to stay here too long either.”

“She's actually already awake for once!” Callie said cheerily. “I woke her up because her phone was ringing, which is why she hasn't come out yet.”

“Ah… idol business?”

“Somewhat,” was the only thing Callie said.

Three raised an eyebrow at the other's grin. The curious part of her wanted to ask about it since she could tell it had more to do with her situation, but something else caught her attention before she could.

“Hey uh… Callie?”

“Yeah?” She asked curiously.

“I think…I think something's burning.”

“…Three, remember when I said that us Cuttlefish can't cook? Like… _at all_?”

“…oh.”

“Yeah!” Callie's grin grew as they stared at each other.

“Do you… need help?”

“Cod, please!” Callie practically begged.

Three couldn't help the bubble of laughter that slipped, walking around the counter to join Callie in the kitchen. Taking the pan off the stove and dumping the charred remains into the nearby trash can, she gently placed it in the sink, letting a small stream of water run into it.

Callie wordlessly handed her a clean pan.

“I'll cook and you finish serving the coffee and milk?” Three offered.

Callie gave her a mock salute, before twirling around to grab the coffee pot with their freshly brewed drink. Three shook her head as she set to work on the eggs, repeating the same motions as Callie had earlier, but taking care to do the cooking portion properly this time.

By the time Marie came out of the room, rubbing her temples and sighing tiredly, breakfast was already at the table.

Callie handed her a green mug with coffee which she immediately downed around half of. Three's eyes widened at the action as she placed her own cup of milk down on the table.

Marie grinned at her expression and Three hurriedly looked down at her plate, poking her eggs around towards the edges.

“An actual homemade breakfast for once?” Marie asked.

“Yep!” Callie said, sitting down beside her cousin and digging into her own food. “Three helped me make the eggs! They actually taste good for once!”

Marie shoved a forkful of eggs into her mouth, chewing slowly, “Huh, I knew you could cook, but these are leagues better than the stuff we get on the way to the studio. Thanks kid.”

Three rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment of the praise. “No problem. It's not much but I'm glad you enjoy it.”

“It's better than anything Callie could ever make, that's for sure. She'd probably burn everything.” Marie said.

Three and Callie shared a look as they smiled sheepishly.

“Anyways,” Callie started, changing the conversation, “How'd the call go?”

Marie grimaced, taking another sip of her coffee. “I got him to agree after a long talk. He did mention that he needed some time to move a few strings around but that works out for what we had planned anyhow.”

“What you had planned?” Three asked. She wondered if she was being too nosy but couldn’t take back the question at that point.

The two agents looked at each other, Callie shoveling the rest of her food into her mouth as Marie pushed her own plate away from herself.

Okay. She guessed they were gonna talk about it right now.

Three was somewhat thankful that she hadn't taken more than a bite of her own food yet. She didn't think she'd have been able to stomach it during the entire talk.

Marie sighed and looked her straight in the eye. Three kept her gaze steady, fighting the urge to glance away.

“First things first, we're not expecting you to explain your family situation. We feel like we pushed you far enough yesterday, so we'll leave the choice to open up—if you ever want to—on your own terms.”

Three blinked. She hadn't expected that, but it was a nice surprise. She wasn't exactly too enthusiastic to dump all of her childhood problems on the table, and now she didn't need to.

“Second, and most importantly, we're not gonna force you to go out and rent a hotel room.”

“So I can keep living on the—“

“Because you're going to move in with us!” Callie exclaimed.

It took Three a moment to process exactly what had just come out of Callie's mouth.

Move in…wait—like in here?!

“Wuh… what does… move in?! What is?! Huh?!”

Three was good at words. She was!

Usually.

But apparently this was a situation where her ability to talk properly had left her.

“Well Three,” Callie started with a far too wide grin, “'moving in' usually entails bringing in all your things—which hey! You've already done! And then bringing your silly little self along. Which, again, already here!”

Callie sent finger guns in her direction.

Three stared at her, mouth agape.

“How… why… wha—“

“Very interesting and thorough questions, Three,” Marie said, pulling Callie back into her chair. “But yes, the plan is to have you move in with us for the foreseeable future.” She placed her phone face-up on the table. “I ran the calculations, and you should have enough money to pay rent for two or three months, technically more but we’re assuming you’ll want to buy some things for yourself—and don't worry, we know you'll feel uncomfortable staying here for free, so we'll be taking a small amount of money from you each month.”

“Not that we need it! But all of it would be going into a savings account of sorts anyways!” Callie chimed in.

“Yeah, that. After that, you can start working for a friend of ours. He's been starting to get some more customers in the past month, so he's gonna need some extra hands helping around the place. We figured you'd be up for it since patrols are gonna slowing down soon enough.” Marie slid the phone towards her. “We just need you to type your name into this contract I just wrote up this morning. Take your time reading it, there's nothing sketchy there, but if it'll give you peace of mind…” Marie shrugged.

Three stared down at the phone in disbelief.

They had really just decided… when was… what even?

“You can't just—what about stuff?!” Three flailed her hands around. “And things… room!”

“Stuff, things, and room, huh?” Marie repeated with an amused expression.

“Awww! So cute!” Callie reached across the table to pat her on the head, ruffling up her mantle in the process. “It'll be like having a sleepover every day! Well night, since Marie and I need to head to the studio in the mornings. And then patrols. Hmmm… we don't get too much free time even now, huh?”

Three swatted the offending hand away.

“My bangs are sticking up now!” she whined.

Oh. So now her ability to speak came back. To complain about her hair.

Great.

Three turned her attention back to Marie. “I can't just move in! You two can't just take me in like…like…like some stray animal off the street!”

Marie blinked slowly at her, trailing a finger along the rim of her mug. “Well obviously not. If we took in Judd, we'd let him stay here for free. With everything completely covered in terms of his living expenses.” She gestured towards the phone with her free hand. “If you would please read that, you'll find that you won't be staying here under such conditions.”

“Yeah! But also, Marie, I don't think Judd would take to kindly to being called a stray.”

Marie just shrugged, but Three ignored them both in favor of reading over the text on the screen.

The first few lines pretty much just said everything that Marie had already explained to her. That she would be living with them, effective from that moment, and that she would get a job to pay for a very small amount of rent every month, only after three months had passed.

Which meant that she would be staying there for three months without doing much of anything.

The next few lines made her raise an eyebrow.

“Wait. According to this, I don't even have to pay for the basic necessities? That's almost like I'm taking advantage of you guys!” Three argued.

Callie shook her head. “If anything you'll be doing us a favor. Most of the food we buy tends to go bad anyways because we're never really here to do anything with it.”

“Also because we're horrible cooks.”

“That too!” Callie said, agreeing with Marie. “But if you eat everything before it goes to waste, then that's better for everyone! Plus, things like toiletries and the like are usually given out to younger inklings for free anyways, under the protection that all minors live under.”

Right. Every single underage inkling basically lived under laws meant to protect them when they went out on their own. The very basics of everything they needed was provided to them, granted they were registered as needing the materials in the first place—which Three was not, but she had made do thus far thanks to the money she had brought with her.

“So you're saying that I get to stay here with two of the most popular idols—if not the most popular idols at the moment—without needing to pay much at all. Of which as it says here, won't even be used by you two and will instead be put into a savings account for the 'future',” Three said, making quotation marks in the air. “Or for an emergency, whatever that means.”

“Oh, that's basically just in case one of us ends up in the hospital or we just do a really bad job of dealing with our finances. It's always good to have a backup plan!”

Three's eye twitched. “Both your parents own one of the brands that's quickly rising in popularity. I'm sure they'd lend you some money if you needed it. Plus your both also popular enough to make double the amount you might need with a single concert.”

She had done some light research on them, and subsequently their parents, when she realized who they actually were. It wasn’t much in terms of research when a good amount of their lives were practically splayed out on a wiki article.

“Ah, yes. Let's just go out and perform and entire concert when we need to pay to repair a broken bone,” Marie said dryly.

“We don't even _have_ bones!”

Seriously! It was like these two didn't see the seriousness of what they were proposing!

She waved at the empty air in front of her. “Look. Forgetting the fact that you're basically giving me room and board for free. You both realize that it could be an entire scandal if word gets out that some random unknown inkling is living with the Squid Sisters, right?”

Callie laughed, reaching an arm out to bring her cousin into a side hug. “That's why we always wear disguises silly! No one knows that we even live here, so don't worry about anyone finding out.”

“Callie's right. As far as the owner of building would know, it's only two sisters living here along with the new roommate they managed to snag. The floor itself belongs to us anyways, so no one will see us come into the room anyways.”

“Unless it's a stalker,” Three pointed out.

“Unless it's a stalker,” Marie agreed.

“In which case we'll slap them upside the head!” Callie stood up suddenly, pumping a fist in the air and sending her chair flying away from behind her.

They all turned to stare at the wooden chair lying pathetically on the ground.

“Whoops!”

Marie gave her an exasperated look. Running a hand down her face before bending down to right the chair.

“See, Three! You won't be more trouble to us than I already am to Marie!” Callie beamed.

“I don't know about that. Something tells me that the two of you together will be the death of me.”

Callie giggled, skipping around the table and loosely wrapping her arms around Three's neck.

“We'll try our absolute best! Right Three?”

Three shifted uncomfortably within Callie's arms, sparing another glance down at the phone before meeting Marie's gaze again.

She could continue to argue until she wore down the two cousins to the point of simply letting her be. But then what? She'd be out on her own again.

And sure, the two had already mentioned that they would be out of the house for the most part thanks to their news reporter and idol careers, but at least they would still be there to accompany her when they had free time; outside of their patrols.

So clearly, there was only one choice that she could make. As much as it made her feel like a burden.

Three sighed, the corners of her mouth rising at Callie's knowing squeal. “Yeah, why not? I'll help you bring Marie to an early grave, apparently.”

Callie cheered, pulling her back and Three's arms flailed around as she tried to keep her from knocking back her chair too and sending them both to the same fate that Callie's chair had.

“New roommate!”

Marie laughed, watching the two with a fond smile. “Looking forward to what you both have planned.”

Three grinned back up at her, feeling an undeniable warmth in her chest.

She had a feeling that things were taking a turn for the better.

* * *

Pearl stumbled as she tried to make her way to the table, trying not to trip over her guest sitting cross legged on the floor, currently giving all her attention to the cat in her arms. Judd happily let her continue to rub his head, purring as the girl cooed.

"Hey! Dinner is ready." Pearl called out to get her attention. Her guest-Marina, as she had introduced herself-reluctantly let go of the cat and walked over to the table.

Sitting down across from her, Pearl handed her a fork before digging into her own plate.

The two ate in relative silence, Marina occasionally sneaking Judd a piece or two of food. Pearl turned a blind eye, acting as if the two weren't literally sharing conspiring smiles just a few feet away.

She instead thought about how they had even ended up here.

Sure, it was partially her fault for having been curious enough about the odd looking inkling she had met on Mount Nantai—the same one that had clocked her in the face, no less-to go searching for her again. She hadn't expected to actually _see_ her again.

Marina had been searching through the same bushes that they had met by that night when Pearl came across her.

Wary, not to startle her, she had tapped her gently on the shoulder, leaping back when the other girl jumped and clawed at the air, right where she had just been.

Even just having met her once, Pearl felt slight pride at knowing exactly how she would react. And perhaps also some concern that her instinct was to lash out at strangers that way.

Wherever she came from, it must've been a hell of a place.

It only took a moment for Marina to recognize her, before starting to ramble away in a language that Pearl couldn't make out. It sounded similar to Inklish, but also…not?

Pearl decided it must've been a sister language from some distant place.

Marina soon realized their language predicament and shyly switched over to Inklish. It was choppy and she stumbled through a few of the words and phrases, but it was enough to get a basic idea of the situation.

She was trying to find her way to Inkopolis but had gotten lost along the way. Somehow getting herself stuck on Mount Nantai.

Pearl was no idiot and could tell that it wasn't the whole truth-seriously, who gets stuck on top of a mountain? Surely she wasn't that bad at directions. But she had gone along with it regardless, offering her a ride to the plaza and then her mansion when she realized the Marina had no place to stay.

As soon as they had walked inside, Marina had shrugged off her bag-the same one Pearl had gifted her, rustling through it's contents before shoving an old device into her hands, excitedly pointing at it.

Curious, she pressed the button, listening to the rad beat of Marina's song in awe. Girl could seriously make some dope music!

Handing the player back, she was about to tell her how good it was when Marina excitedly asked her to join her in making a band, smiling widely as she held the small machine between her hands.

Now, Pearl was always one to make quick and hasty decisions. It was how she had gone through life for the past nineteen years! So while she had plenty of questions as to how they would even start, she had agreed then and there, offering her one of the many spare rooms so they could more easily plan everything out.

And for as excited as she had been at the moment, she was only just realizing what she had signed up for.

In one night she had started a band and brought in a new roommate. And that was honestly a _lot_.

Her father would surely question her sanity when he found out, but Pearl found herself not minding it as much as she thought she would. Especially as she caught a glance of Marina's smile as she threw another piece of tuna at Judd, clapping her hands softly as he caught it easily in his mouth.

Maybe it was an impulsive decision but something told her this would turn out better than she thought.

"Oi, Judd's heavy enough as it is. Plus when he eats too much, he falls asleep when he should be keeping track of the turf scores." Pearl said, laughing when Marina gave her a sheepish look.

"Ah, sorry. He is just too cute to, ah… what was it? <Resistir>?" Marina muttered.

“Resist?”

Marina snapped her fingers. “That!”

Pearl shrugged. That was one of the few words that sounded similar enough in both their languages. If she tried to repeat it though, she was sure she would mess up. She had so much respect towards Marina for picking up Inklish as quickly as she had.

"Sounds about right. But that's no excuse." She shook her finger at the two. "Besides, you should eat everything on your plate. You're so skinny, which is fine, whatever. But I doubt you had decent meals while you were stuck on that mountain for… how long was it again?"

"Oh! Uhhh… two weeks. It was not that bad. Please do not worry about it!"

Pearl pointed the end of her fork in her direction. "I'll worry plenty! You're my band mate now, so I have to make sure you're always at your best for making hella good tunes!"

Marina smiled widely. "Then I give you many thanks! I wish to become good friends!"

Pearl returned the smile. Knowing that they would be just that. "Me too, Marina. Me too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know it's been a long time since I last updated this story, but thanks to nanowrimo I have a few more chapters fully drafted and mostly ready! That being said, with everything going on with this site, I am working on moving this to toyhouse and maybe(?) fanfiction online-I'm excited to see how they improve the site- but I'm still gonna update the next few chapters here until I do. And even then I might do cross-posting? But probably post chapters here a week or two after the other site(s).
> 
> For now though, I'm still updating here and I'm hoping to have the next chapter up sooner than usual! Anyways, hope you enjoyed this and I'll see y'all in the next one!! :]


	6. Chapter 6

Hey there guys! Some of you might have noticed the small bit I added to the summary already but I figured I may as well make a proper announcement as well. I'm planning on rewriting everything that I've done so far. I started this story when I was still very much so learning more about how to write in general, I knew enough to make things decent enough in my personal opinion but I was also learning quickly as I went along. Not to mention that I've developed my ocs so much more as well so most of what I had written from the start is something I feel like I could improve so much more with what I know now as well as writing the characters themselves better.

Because of this I'm planning on taking a couple of months to write as much as I can, change what I want, and just have fun with some new ideas. I'm absolutely not going to abandon this story because I care about it so much to be honest, but I did want to rewrite it before posting up any more chapters from what I already had. Some of the stuff that I have now is probably gonna end up in the new version since I still feel it's important to the story but with better writing and some new stuff. I apologize for this but I hope that whatever I come up with is something that you guys will enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also if you guys want to see any updates as I go along I have a [tumblr](https://cuttlegear.tumblr.com/) where I'll post them. It's mainly an art blog but my writing stuff will be mixed in there too! Thank you guys for all the nice comments you've all left so far and hopefully the next time I see you all will be the rewrite of chapter 1! :3

**Author's Note:**

> I realize this concept has been done time and time again, but I wanted to give it a go with my agents. There won't be a set schedule for this, but I'll try to put the chapters out as soon as I can.


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